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DOMESTIC PROBLEMS 



WORK AND CULTURE IN THE HOUSEHOLD, 



AND THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK 



CONTAINING PAPERS ON HOME LIFE IN TWEENIT 



' r 7 ^ 



BY 



MRS. A. M. DIAZ 



/fV 






^ aO 



NOV 




BOSTON 
D. LOTHROP AND COMPANY 

FRANKLIN AND HAWLEY STREETS 



A 



Copyright by 

D. LOTHROP AND COMPANY 

1884 



OOI^TEJ^TS. 



WORK AND CULTURE IN THE HOUSEHOLD. 

CHAPTER I. PAGE 

Taking a View of the Situation" . . . . . 7 

CHAPTER II. 
One Cause of the Situation. — A Part op " Woman's 

Mission" considered 19 

CHAPTER III. 
Culture proved to be a Need of the Child-Trainer, 28 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Other Part of "Woman's Mission" ... 36 

CHAPTER V. 
Other Causes considered 44 

CHAPTER VI. 
Reasons for a Change 53 

CHAPTER VII. 
A Way out 59 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Suggestions for Lecture Topics 71 

CHAPTER IX. 
Ways of Immediate Escape 83 

CHAPTER X. 

Means of Escape already in Operation . . . 104 

CHAPTER XI. 
Supplementary 115 



6 CONTENTS. 

THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

CHAPTER I. PAGE 

The Slaves of the Rolling-Pin 123 

CHAPTER II. 
A Word TO THE " Men-Folks " 131 

CHAPTER III. 
Concerning Common Things 139 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Sewing-Circle. — How it was started . . 147 

CHAPTER V. 
Notes taken at the Sewing-Circle .... 154 

CHAPTER VI. 
Pebbles, or Diamonds ? 160 

CHAPTER VII. 
Kindling-Wood 167 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Mr. McKimber rises to explain 175 

CHAPTER IX. 
"Turn 'em off" 181 

CHAPTER X. 
A Look Ahead 188 

CHAPTER XI. 
Fennel Payne and Adeline 196 

CHAPTER XII. 

New Invention wanted " . 204 

CHAPTER XIII. 
A Talk in the Schoolhouse 212 

CHAPTER XIV. 
An Entertaining Meeting 220 

CHAPTER XV. 
The Writer faces his Own Music .... 228 



A DOMESTIC PEOBLEM. 

WORK AND CULTURE IN THE HOUSEHOLD. 



CHAPTER I. 

TAKING A VIEW OF t6e SITUATION. 

/^UR problem is this : How may woman enjo}' 
^-^ the delights of culture, and at the same time 
fulfil her duties to family and household ? Perhaps 
it is not assuming too much to say, that, in making 
known the existence of such a problem, we have 
already taken the first step toward its solution, 
just as a ship's crew in distress take the first step 
toward relief by making a signal which calls atten- 
tion to thek needs. 

The next step — after having, as we may sa}', set 
our flag; at half-mast — is one which, if all we hear 
be true, should come easil}' to women in council, 
namely, talking. And talking we must have, even 



» A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

if, as in the social game called " Th::owing Light," 
much of it is done at a ventm'e. In that interest- 
ing little game, after a few hints have been given 
concerning " the word,'' different members of the 
company begin at once to talk about it, and think 
about it, and suggest and hazard descriptive re- 
marks, according to the idea each has formed of it ; 
that is, they tr}^, though in the dark, to " throw 
light." As the interest increases, the excitement 
becomes intense. Many of the ideas expressed are 
absurdly wide of the mark, yet even these help to 
show what the answer is not ; and often, by their 
coming in contact, a light is struck which helps 
amazingly. And so, in regard to our problem, we 
have the hints ; then why not begin at once to 
think about it, and talk about it, and suggest, and 
guess, and throw light with all our might? No 
matter if we even get excited, say absurd things, 
say utterly preposterous things, make blunders. 
Blunders are to be expected. Let them fly right 
and left ; by hitting together right smartly they 
may strike out sparks which shall help us find our 
way. 

We all have heard of the frank country girl who 
said to her bashful lover, ' ' Do say something, if it 
isn't quite so bright!" This, doubtless, is what 



TAKING A VIEW OF THE SITUATION. 9 

everj^ thoughtful woman, if she expressed the sin- 
cere desire of her heart regarding our perplexing 
question, would saj'- to all other women ; and it is 
to comply with that wish, partly expressed to me, 
that I have gathered up from chance observation, 
chance reading, and hearsay, some ideas bearing 
on the subject. Suppose we begin by lookiug about 
us, and making clear to our minds just what this 
state of things is, which, because it hinders culture, 
many deem so unsatisfactor3\ After that, we will 
consider its causes, reasons for changing it, and the 
way or ways out of it. 

A few, a very few, of our women are able to live 
and move and have their being literally regardless 
of expense. These can buy of skilled assistants 
and competent supervisors, whole lifetimes of lei- 
sure ; with these, therefore, our problem has no 
concern. The larger class, the immense majority, 
either do their work themselves, or attend person- 
ally to its being done by others ; ' ' others ' ' signify- 
ing that ineflScient, untrustworth}', unstable horde 
who come fresh from their training in peat-bog and 
meadow, to cook our dinners, take care of our 
china dishes, and adjust the nice little internal 
arrangements of our dwellinors. 

Observing closely the lives of the immense ma- 



10 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM 

jority, I think we shall see, that, in conducting their 
household affairs, the object they have in view 
is one and the same. I think we shall see that 
the}^ all strive, some by then- own labors wholly, 
the rest by covering over and piecing out the short- 
comings of "help," to present a smooth, agreeable 
surface to husbands and company. This smooth, 
agreeable surface ma}'' be compared to a piece of 
mosaic work composed of man}^ parts. Of the 
almost infinite number of those parts, and of the 
time, skill, and labor required to adjust them, it 
hath not entered, it cannot enter, into the heart of 
man to conceive. 

I wonder how long it would take to name, just 
merel}^ to name, all the duties which fall upon the 
woman who, to use a common phrase, and a true 
one, carries on the family. Suppose we try to 
count them, one by one. Doing this will help to 
give us that clear view of the present state of 
things which it is our present object to obtain ; 
though the idea reminds me of what the children 
usea to say when I was a child, " If j^ou count the 
stars you'll drop down dead," — a saying founded, 
probably, on the vastness of the undertaking com- 
pared with human endurance. It certainly cannot 
be called trivial to enumerate the duties to which 



TAKING A VIEW OF THE SITUATION. 11 

woman consecrates so large a portion of her life, 
especiall}^ when we remember that into each and all 
of these duties she has to carry her mind. Where 
woman's mind must go, woman's mind or man's 
mind, should not scorn to follow. So let us make 
the attempt ; and we need not stand upon the order 
of our counting, but begin aK^^where. 

Setting tables ; clearing them off ; keeping lamps 
or gas-fixtures in order ; polishing stoves, knives, 
silverware, tinware, faucets, knobs, &c. ; washing 
and wiping dishes ; taking care of food left at 
meals ; sweeping, including the grand Friday sweep, 
the limited daily sweep, and the oft-recurring dust- 
pan sweep ; cleaning paint ; washing looking-glasses, 
windows, window-curtains ; canning and preserving 
fruit; making sauces and jellies, and "catchups" 
and pickles ; making and baking bread, cake, pies, 
puddings ; cooking meats and vegetables ; keeping 
in nice order beds, bedding, and bedchambers ; 
arranging furniture, dusting, and "picking up;" 
setting forth, at their due times and in due order, 
the thi'ee meals ; w^ashing the clothes ; ironing, 
including doing up shirts and other "starched 
things;" taking care of the bab}-, night and day; 
washing and dressing children, and regulating their 
behavior, and making or getting made, their cloth- 



12 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

ing, and seeing that the same is in good repair, in 
good taste, spotless from dirt, and suit(jd both to 
the weather and the occasion ; doing for herself 
what her own personal needs require ; arranging 
flowers ; entertaining company ; nursing the sick ; 
"letting down" and "letting out" to suit the 
growing ones ; patching, darning, knitting, crochet- 
ing, braiding, quilting, — but let us remember the 
warning of the* old sajdng, and forbear in time. 

This, however, is only a general enumeration. 
This is counting the stars by constellations. Ex- 
amining closely these items : we shall find them 
made up each of a number of smaller items, and 
each of these again of items still smaller. What 
seem homogeneous are heterogeneous ; what seem 
simple are complex. Make a loaf of bread. That 
has a simple sound, yet the process is complex. 
First, hops, potatoes, flour, sugar, water, salt, in 
right proportions for the yeast. The yeast for rais- 
ing the yeast must be in just the right condition, 
aiiu added when the mixture is 'of just ,the right 
temperature. In " mixing up " bread, the tempera- 
ture of the atmosphere must be considered, the 
temperature of the water, the situation of the 
dough. The dough must rise quickly, must rise 
just enough and no more, must be baked in an 



TAKING A VIEW OF THE SITUATION. 13 

oven just hot enough and no hotter, and must be 
' ' tended ' ' while baking. 

Try clearing off tables. Remove food from plat- 
ters, care for the remnants, see that nothing is 
wasted, scrape well every plate, arrange in piles, 
carry out, wash in soap and water, rinse in clear 
water, polish with dry cloth, set away in their places, 
— three times a day. 

Taking care of the baby frequently implies carry- 
ing the child on one arm while working with the 
other, and this often after nights made sleepless by 
its "worrj-ing." "I've done many a baking 
with a child on my hip," said a farmer's wife in my 
hearing. 

But try now the humblest of household duties, 
one that passes for just nothing at all ; try dusting. 
" Take a cloth, and brush the dust off," — stated in 
this general way, how easy a process it seems ! The 
particular interpretation, is that you move, wipe, 
and replace every article in the room, from the 
piano down to the tiniest ornament ; that you " take 
a cloth," and go over ever}^ inch of accessible sur- 
face, including panelling, mop-boards, window 
frames and sashes, looking-glass-frames, picture- 
frames and cords, gas or lamp fixtures ; reaching up, 
tipt\)eing, climbing, stooping, kneeling, taking care 
2 



l4 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

that not even in the remotest corner shall appear 
one inch of undusted surface which any slippered 
individual, leaning back in his arm-chair, can spy 
out. 

These are only a few examples ; but a little obser- 
vation and an exceedingly little experience will 
show the curious inquirer that there is scarcely one 
of the apparently simple household operations 
which cannot be resolved and re-resolved into 
minute component parts. Thus dusting, which 
seems at first to consist of simply a few brushes 
with a cloth or bunch of feathers, when analj^zed 
once, is found to imply the careful wiping of every 
article in the room, and of all the woodwork ; ana- 
Ij^zed again, it implies following the marks of the 
cabinet-maker's tools in every bit of carving and 
grooving ; anal3'zed again, introducing a pointed 
stick under the cloth in turning corners. In fact, 
the investigator of household duties must do as 
does a distinguished scientist in anal3'zing matter, — 
*' continue the process of dividing as long as the 
parts can be discerned," and then "prolong the 
vision backward across the boundary of experi- 
mental evidence." And, if brave enough to attempt 
to count them, he must bear in mind that what 
appear tO' be blank intervals, or blurred, nebulous 



TAKING A VIEW OF THE SITUATION. 15 

spaces, are, in reality, filled in with innumerable 
little duties which, through the glass of observation, 
vnsij be discerned quite plainl3\ Let him also bear 
in mind, that these household duties must be done 
over and over, and over and over, and as well, 
each time, as if done to last forever ; and, above 
all, that they every one require mind. 

Man}^ a common saying proves this last point. 
"Put 3'our mind on 3'our work." "Your mind 
must be where your work is." " She's a good 
hand to take hold, but she hasn't an}^ calculation." 
" She doesn't know how to forecast her work." 
"She doesn't know how to forelay." "Nancy's 
gittin' past carryin' her mind inter her work. Wal, 
I remember when I begun to git past carrjin' m}' 
mind inter my work," said an old woman of ninet}^, 
speaking of her sixty-years-old daughter. The old 
couplet, 

" Man works from rise till set of sun, 
But woman's work is never done, " — 

tells the truth. " Woman's work," as now arranged, 
is so varied, so all-embracing, that it cannot be 
" done." For every odd moment some dut}^ lies in 
wait. And it is generally the case, that these multi- 
form duties press for performance, crowds of them 



16 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

at once. " So many things to be done right off, 
that I don't know which to take hold of first." 
" 'Tis just as much as I can do to keep my head 
above water." " Oh, dear ! I can't see through ! " 
'' My work drives me." " I never know what 'tis 
not to feel hurried." " The things I can't get 
done tire me more than the things I do." Such 
remarks have a meaning. 

And those who keep ' ' a girl ' ' have almost equal 
diflSculty in always presenting the smooth, agreeable 
surface just now spoken of. With the greater 
abilit}'- to hire help comes usually the desire to live 
in more expensive houses, and to furnish the same 
with more costly furniture. Every article added is 
a care added, and the nicer the article the nicer the 
care required. More, also, is demanded of these in 
the way of appearance, style, and social civilities ; 
and the wear and tear of superintending ' ' a girl ' ' 
should by no means be forgotten. At anj^ rate, the 
complaint, " no time to read," is frequent among 
women, and is not confined to any one class. 

We see, then, that in the present state of things 
it is impossible for woman — that is, the family 
woman, the house-mother — to enjoy the delights of 
culture. External activities, especially the two 
insatiable, all-devouring ones which know neither 



TAKING A VIEW OF THE SITUATION. 17 

end nor beginning, — housework and sewing- work, 
— these demand her time, her energies, in short, 
demand herself, — the whole of her. Yes, the 
whole, and more too ; there is not enough of her to 
go round. There might possibly be enough, and 
even something left to spend on culture, were she 
in sound phj^sical condition ; but, alas ! a health}'" 
woman is scarcely to be found. This point, namely, 
the prevailing invalidism of woman, will come up 
for consideration b}^ and by, when we inquire into 
the causes of the present state of things. It is 
none too earl}^, however, to make a note of what 
some pM^sicians sa}^ in regard to it. ' ' Half of all 
who are born," says one medical writer, " die under 
twenty years of age ; while four-fifths of all who 
reach that age, and die before another score, owe 
their death to causes which were originated in their 
teens. This is a fact of startling import to fathers 
and mothers, and shows a fearful responsibility." 
Another medical writer says, "Beside the loss of 
so many children (nearl}'' twenty-five per cent) , soci- 
ety suffers seriousl}' from those who survive, their 
health being irremediably injured while they are 
still infants. . . . Ignorance and injudicious nursery 
management lie at the root of this evil." 

We must be sure not to forget that this prevailing 

2* 



18 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

invalidism of women, which is one hinderaiice to 
their obtaining culture, can be traced directly back 
to the ignorance of mothers, for this point has an 
important bearing on the solution of our problem. 



ONE CAUSE OF THE SITUATION. 19 



CHAPTER n. 

one cause of the situation. a part of 

"woman's mission" considered. 

npHE question, How may work and culture be 
combined? was recently submitted, in my 
hearing, to a highly intelligent lady. She answered 
with a sigh, " It can't be done. I've tried it ; but, 
as things are now, it can't be done." By " as 
things are now ' ' she meant, with the established 
ideas regarding dress, food, appearance, style, and 
the objects for which woman should spend her time 
and herself. Suppose we investigate the causes of 
the present state of things, which, as being a hinder- 
ance to culture, is to us so unsatisfactory. A little 
reflection will enable us to discover several. Chief 
among them all, I think, is one which may require 
close inspection before it is recognized to be such. 
It seems to me that the great underlying cause — the 
cause of all the other causes — is the want of in- 
sight, the uner.lightenment, which prevails concern- 



20 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

mg, not what woman's mission is, but the ways and 
means b}" which she is to accomplish it. Let us 
consider this. 

Those who claim the right of defining it never can 
say often enough that the true mission of woman is 
to train up her children rightly, and to make home 
happy ; and no doubt we all agree with them. But 
have we, or have the}", a full sense of what woman 
requires to fit her even for the first of these duties ? 
Suppose a philosopher in disguise on a tour of 
observation from some distant isle or planet should 
favor us with a visit. He finds himself, we will sa}-, 
on a spot not a hundi^ed miles from New York or 
Boston or Chicago. Among the objects which 
attract his attention are the little children drawn 
along in their little chaises. 

"Are these beautiful creatures of any value?" 
he asks of a bystander. 

" Certainly. They are the hope of the country. 
They will grow up into men and women w^ho w^ill 
take our places." 

" I suppose there is no danger of their growing 
up any other than the right kind of men and women, 
such as 3^our country needs ? ' ' 

" On the contrar}", there is every danger. Evil 
influences surround them from their birth. These 



ONE CAUSE OF THE SITUATION. 21 

beautiful creatures have in them the possibilities of 
becoming mean, base, corrupt, treacherous, deceit- 
ful, cruel, false, revengeful ; of becoming, in fact, 
unworthy and repulsive in many ways. Why, all 
our criminals, our drunkards, liars, thieves, bur- 
glars, murderers, were once innocent little children 
like these!" 

" And whether these will become like those, or 
not, depends on chance ? ' ' 

" Oh, no ! It depends largely on training, espe- 
cially on earty training. Children are like wax to 
receive impressions, like marble to retain them." 

" Are the}^ constituted pretty nearty alike, so that 
the treatment which is best for one is best for all ? " 

" By no means. Even those in the same family 
are often extremely unlike. They have different 
temperaments, dispositions, propensities. Some 
require urging, others checking. Some do better 
with praise, others without : the same of blame. 
It requires thought and discernment to know what 
words to speak, how many to speak, and when to 
speak them. In fact, a child's nature is a piece of 
delicate, complex machinery, and each one requires 
a separate study ; for, as its springs of action are 
concealed, the operator is liable at an}^ time to 
touch the wrong one." 



22 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

'* And mistakes here will affect a child through 
its whole lifetime? " 

" They will affect it through all eternity." 

' ' But who among you dare make these early 
impressions which are to be so enduring ? Who are 
the operators on these delicate and complex pieces 
of mental machinery? " 

* ' Oh ! the mothers alwaj^s have the care of the 
children. This is their mission, — the chief dut}^ of 
their lives." 

"But how judicious, how comprehensive, must be 
the course of education which will fit a person for 
such an office ! ' ' 

"Do 3'ou think so? Hem! Well, it is not 
generally considered that a woman who is going to 
marry and settle down to family life needs much 
education." 

"You mean, doubtless, that she only receives the 
special instruction which her vocation requires." 

' ' Special instruction ? ' ' 

" Yes. K woman's special vocation is the train- 
i.^g of children, of course she is educated speciall}'- 
with a view to that vocation." 

' ' Well, I never heard of such a kind of educa- 
tion. But here is one of our young mothers ; she 
can tell 3'ou all about it." 



ONE CAUSE OF THE SITUATION. 23 

We will suppose, now, that our philosopher is left 
with the young mother, who names over what she 
learned at the " institute." 

" And the training of children — moral, intellect- 
ual, and physical — was no doubt made a prominent 
subject of consideration." 

"Training of children? Oh, no! That would 
have been a curious kind of study." 

" Where, then, were j^ou prepared for the duties 
of 3'our mission ? ' ' 

' ' What mission do you mean ? ' ' 

'' Your mission of child- training." 

" I had no preparation." 

"No preparation? But are you acquainted with 
the different temperaments a child may have, and 
the different combinations of them? Are you com- 
petent to the direction and culture of the intellect- 
ual and moral nature ? Have you skill to touch the 
hidden springs of action? Have you, thus unin- 
structed, the power, the knowledge, the wisdom, 
requisite for guiding that mighty force, a child's 
soul?" 

" Alas ! there is hardly a day that I do not feel 
my ignorance on all these points." 

' ' Are there no sources from which knowledge 
may be obtained ? There must be books written on 
these subjects." 



24 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

" Possibly ; but I have no time to read them/' 

"No time? — no time to prepare for yonr chief 
mission? " 

"It is our mission only in print. In real life it 
plays an extremely subordinate part." 

" What, then, in real life, is your mission? " 

" Chiefl}^ cooking and sewing." 

" Your husband, then, does not share the common 
belief in regard to woman's chief dut3^" 

" Oh, yes! I have heard him express it many a 
time ; though I don't think he comprehends what a 
woman needs in order to do her dut}^ b}'' her chil- 
dren. But he loves them dearty. If one should 
die he would be heart-broken." 

"Is it a common thing here for children to 
die?" 

" I am grieved to saj^ that nearly one-fourth die 
in infancy." 

" And those who live, — do they grow up in full 
health and vigor ? ' ' 

" Oh, indeed they do not! Why, look at our 
crowded hospitals ! Look at the apothecaries' shops 
at almost every corner. Look at the advertisements 
of medicines. Don't you think there's meaning in 
these, and a meaning in the long rows of five- 
etory swell-front houses occupied by ph^^sicians. 



ONE CAUSE OF THE SITUATION. 25 

and a meaning in the people themselves? There's 
scarcely one of them but has some ailment." 

'' But is this matter of health subject to no 
laws?" 

" The phrase, ' laws of health,' is a familiar one, 
but I don't know what those laws are." 

" Mothers, then, are not in the habit of teaching 
them to their children ? ' ' 

" The}' are not themselves acquainted with 
them." 

'' Perhaps this astonishing ignorance has some- 
thing to do with the fearful mortalit}^ among in- 
fants. Do not husbands provide their wives with 
books and other means of information on this sub- 
ject?" 

*' Generally speaking, they do nothing of the 
kind." 

" And does not the subject of hj^gienic laws, as 
applied to the rearing of children, come into the 
courses of study laid out for young women ! ' ' 

" No, indeed. Oh, how I wish it had! — and 
those other matters you mentioned. I would give 
up every thing else I ever learned for the sake of 
knowing how to bring up my children, and how to 
keep them in health." 

'' The presidents and professors of 3-our educa 



26 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

tional institutions, — do the}' share the common 
belief as to woman's mission? " 

" Oh, yes ! They all say that the chief business 
of woman is to train up her children." 

{Philosopher' s solo . ) 

'' There seems to be blindness and stupidity 
somewhere among these people. From what they 
saj^ of the diJfficulty of bringing up their children, it 
must take an archangel to do it rightly ; still they 
do not think a woman who is married and settles 
down to family life needs much education ! More- 
over, in educating 3^oung women, that which is uni- 
versally acknowledged to be the chief business of 
their lives receives not the least attention." 

If our philosopher continued his inquiries into the 
manners and customs of our countrj'^, he must have 
felt greatly encouraged ; for he would have found 
that it is only in this one direction that we show 
such blindness and stupidity. He would have found 
that in every other occupation we demand prepara- 
tion. The individual who builds our ships, cuts 
our coats, manufactures our watches, superintends 
our machinery, takes charge of our cattle, our trees, 
our flowers, must know how, must have been espe- 
cially prepared for his calling. It is only character- 
moulding, onl}' shaping the destinies of immortal 



ONE CAUSE OF THE SITUATION. 27 

beings, for which we demand neither preparation 
nor a knowledge of the business. It is only of our 
children that we are resigned to lose nearly one- 
fourth by death, " owing to ignorance and injudi- 
cious nursery management." Were this rate of 
mortality declared to exist among our domestic ani- 
mals, the community would be aroused at once. 



28 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 



CHAPTER III. 

CULTURE PROVED TO BE A NEED OF THE CHILD- 
TRAINER. 

npERHAPS some day the commuiiity may come 
to perceive that woman requires for her voca- 
tion what the teacher, the preacher, the lawyer, and 
the physician, require for theirs ; namely, special 
preparation and general culture. The first, because 
every vocation demands special preparation ; and 
the second, because, to satisfy the requirements of 
j^oung minds, she will need to draw from almost 
everj^ kind of knowledge. And we must remember 
here, that the advantages derived from culture are 
not wholly an intellectual gain. We get from books 
and other sources of culture not merely what informs 
the mind, but that which warms the heart, quickens 
the sjTnpathies, strengthens the understanding ; get 
clearness and breadth of vision, get refining and 
ennobling influences, get wisdom in its truest and 
most comprehensive sense ; and all of these, the last 



CULTURE A NEED OF THE CHILD-TRAINER. 29 

more than all, a mother needs for her high calling. 
That it is a high calling, we have high authority to 
show. Dr. Channing says, " No office can compare 
in importance with that of training a child." Yet 
the office is assumed without preparation. 

Herbert Spencer asks, in view of this omission, 
" What is to be expected when one of the most 
intricate of problems is undertaken by those who 
have given scarcely a thought as to the principles on 
which its solution depends ? Is the unfolding of a 
human being so simple a process that any one may 
superintend and regulate it with no preparation 
whatever ? . . . Is it not madness to make no pro- 
vision for such a task ? ' ' 

Horace Mann speaks out plainly, and straight to 
the point. ' ' If she is to prepare a refection of cakes, 
she fails not to examine some cookery-book or some 
manuscript receipt, lest she should convert her rich 
ingredients into unpalatable compounds ; but with- 
out ever having read one book upon the subject of 
education, without ever having sought one conver- 
sation with an intelligent person upon it, she under- 
takes so to mingle the earthly and celestial elements 
of instruction for that child's soul that he shall be 
fitted to discharge all duties below, and to enjoy all 
blessings above." And again, " Influences imper- 

3* 



30 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

ceptible in childhood, work out more and more 
broadljT^ into beaut}^ or deformity in after life. No 
unskilful hand should ever play upon a harp where 
the tones are left forever in the strings.'* 

In a newspaper I find this amusingly significant 
sentence : " Truthfully, indeed, do the Papists 
boast that the Episcopal Church is training-ground 
for Rome. The female mind is frequently enticed 
by display of vestments and music ; and, if the 
Ritualists can pervert the mothers, they know that 
the next generation is theirs." This is signifi- 
cant, because it signifies that, however weak and 
easy of enticement the ' ' female mind ' ' may be, it 
has a might}' power to influence the j'^oung. 

But we can show not only opinions and prophe- 
cies, but the results of actual scientific experiments. 
A recent number of " The Popular Science 
Monthly ' ' contains an account of experiments made 
in Jamaica upon the mental capacity for learning 
of the different races there existing. The experi- 
menter found, he says, " unequal speed," but saw 
' ' nothing which can be unmistakably referred to 
difi'erence of race. The rate of improvement is due 
almost entirely to the relative elevation of the home 
circle in which the children live. Those who are 
restricted to the narrowest gauge of intellectual 



CULTURE A NEED OF THE CHILD-TRAINER. 31 

exercise live in such a material and coarse medium 
that their mental faculties remain slumbering ; while 
those who hear at home of many things, and are 
brought up to intellectual employments, show a cor 
responding proficienc}' in learning." 

This, and the editor's comments, bear directly on 
our side, that is to say, the culture side. The 
editor says it is inevitable "that the medium in 
which the child is habitually immersed, and by 
which it is continually and unconsciously impressed, 
should have much greater value in the formation of 
mental character than the mere lesson experiences 
of school. Home education is, after all, the great 
fact ; and it is domestic influences b}- which the 
characters of children are formed. Where men are 
exhausted by business, and women are exhausted 
by society (or other means) , we may be pretty sure 
that but little can be done to shape and conduct 
the home with a reference to the higher mental needs 
of the children who live in it." 

Now, who, more than any one, " shapes and con- 
ducts the home"? Who creates these "domestic 
infiuences," this "medium in which the child is 
habitually immersed " ? Woman. In the name of 
common sense, then, throw open to woman every 
avenue of knowledge. Surround her with all that 



32 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

will elevate and refine. Give her the highest, 
broadest, truest culture. Give her chances to draw 
inspiration from the beautiful in nature and in art. 
And, above all, insure her some respite from labor, 
and some tranquillitj^ Unless these conditions are 
observed, " but little can be done to shape and con- 
duct the home with reference to the higher mental 
needs of the children who live in it." 

I once heard ' ' Grace Greenwood ' ' tell a little 
stor}^ which ought to come in here, for our own 
object is to make out as strong a case as we possibly 
can. We want to prove that mothers must have 
culture because they are mothers. We want to 
show it to be absolutely necessary for woman, in 
the accomplishment of her acknowledged mission. 
When this fact is recognized, then culture will take 
rank with essentials, and receive attention as such. 

" Grace Greenwood" said that a friend of hers, 
a teacher "out West," had in her school four or 
five children from one family. The parents were 
poor, ignorant, and of the kind commonl}^ called 
low, coarse sort of people. The children, with one 
exception, were stupid, rough-mannered, and de- 
praved. The one exception, a little girl, showed 
such refinement, appreciation, and quickness of 
apprehension, that the teacher at last asked the 



CULTURE A NEED OF THE CHILD-TRAINER. 33 

mother if she could account for the striking differ- 
ence between this child and its brothers and sisters. 
The mother could not. The children had been 
brought up together there in that lonely place, had 
been treated alike, and had never been separated. 
She knew the little girl was ver}^ different from her 
brothers and sisters, but knew not the reason why. 
The teacher then asked, "Was there any thing in 
your mode of life for the months preceding her 
I birth, that there was not in the corresponding time 
before the births of the others ? ' ' The mother at 
first answered decidedly that there was nothing ; but 
after thinking a fcAv moments said, "Well, there 
was one, a ver}^ small thing, but that couldn't have 
had any thing to do with the matter. One day 
a peddler came along ; and among his books was a 
prett}^, red-covered poetr}^ book, and I wanted it bad. 
But my husband said he couldn't afford it, and the 
peddler went off. I couldn't get that book out of 
my mind : and in the night I took some of my own 
money, and travelled on foot to the next town, found 
the peddler, bought the book, and got back before 
morning, and was never missed from the house. 
That book was the greatest comfort to me that ever 
was. I read it over and over, up to the day my 
child was born." 



34 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

Also would come in well here that oft-told stor}'' 
of a pauper named " Margaret," who was once 
'' set adrift in a village of the county . . . and 
left to grow up as best she could, and from whom 
have descended two hundred criminals. The whole 
number of this girl's descendants, through six 
generations, is nine hundred ; and besides the ' two 
hundred ' a large number have been idiots, imbe- 
ciles, drunliards, lunatics, and paupers." 

Friends, to say nothing of higher motives, would > 
it net be good polic}^ to educate wisely every" girl in 
the country? Are not mothers, as child-trainers, in 
absolute need of true culture ? In cases where fam- 
ilies depend on the labor of their girls, perhaps the 
State would make a saving even by compensating 
these families for the loss of such labor. Perhaps 
it would be cheaper, even in a pecuniary sense, for 
the State to do this, than to support reformatory 
establishments, prisons, almshouses, and insane- 
as3iums, with their necessar}" retinues of officials. 
Institutions in which these girls were educated 
might be made self-supporting, and the course of 
instruction might include different kinds of handi- 
craft. 

It was poor economy for the State to let that 
pauper " grow up as best she could." It would 



CULTURE A NEED OF THE CHILD-TRAINER. 35 

probably have been money in the State's pocket had 
It surrounded "Margaret" in her earl}-^ childhood 
with the choicest productions of art, engaged com- 
petent teachers to instruct her in the solid branches, 
in the accomplishments, in hygiene, in the principles 
and practice of integrity, and then have given her 
particular instruction in all matters connected with 
the training of children. And had she developed a 
remarkable taste for painting, for modelling, or for 
music, the State could better have afforded even 
sending her to Italy, than to have taken care of 
those " two hundred criminals," besides " a large 
.lumber" of " idiots, imbeciles, drunkards, lunatics, 
and paupers." 



36 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE OTHER PAUT OF " WOMAN 's MISSION." RUF- 
FLES VERSUS READING. THE CULTIVATION OP 

THE FINGERS. 

"1" ET US leave for a while this matter of child- 
-^~^ training, and consider the other part of wo- 
man's mission, — namely, "making home happy." 
It would seem that even for this the wife should be 
at least the equal of her husband in culture, in order 
that the two may be in sympathy. When a loving 
couple many, they unite their interests, and it is in 
this union of interests that they find happiness. 
We often hear from a wife or a husband remarks 
like these : " I only half enjoyed it, because he (or 
she) wasn't there ; " "It will be no pleasure to me 
unless he (or she) is there too;" " The compau}'' 
were charming, but still I felt lonesome there with- 
out him (or her)." The phrase "half enjo}' " 
gives the idea ; for a s_^anpathetic couple are to such 
a degree one that a pleasure which comes to either 



THE OTHER PART OF ''WOMAN'S MISSION:' 37 

singly can only be half enjoyed, and even this half- 
joy is lessened by the consciousness of what the 
other is losing. In a rather sarcastic article, taken 
from an English magazine, occur a few sentences 
which illustrate this point very well. The writer is 
describing a honeymoon : — 

"The real difficulty is to be entertaining. The 
one thirst of the young bride is for amusement, and 
she has no idea of amusing herself. It is diverting 
to see the spouse of this ideal creature wend his 
way to the lending library, after a week of idealism, 
and the relief with which he carries home a novel. 
How often, in expectation, has he framed to himself 
imaginary talks, — talk brighter and wittier than 
that of the friends he forsakes ! But conversation 
is difficult in the case of a refined creature who is as 
isrnorant as a Hottentot. He beorins with the new 
Miltonic poem, and finds she has never looked into 
' Paradise Lost.' He plunges into the Reform Bill ; 
but she knows nothing of politics, and has never 
read a leading article in her life. Then she tries 
him, in her turn, and floods him with the dead 
chat of the town and an ocean of family tattle. 
He finds himself shut up for weeks with a creatui'e 
who takes an interest in nothing but Uncle Cross- 
patch's temper and the scandal about Lady X. 

4 



58 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

Little by little the absolute pettiness, the dense 
dulness, of woman's life, breaks on the disenchanted 
devotee. His deity is without occupation » without 
thought, without resources. He has a faint faith in 
her finer sensibility, in her poetic nature : he fetches 
his Tennj^son from his carpet-bag, and wastes ' In 
Memoriam ' on a critic who pronounces it pretty ! ' ' 

In cases of this kind, the half-jo}" is strikingly 
apparent. We see that a husband possessing cul- 
ture is likel}' to be lonesome among his poets and 
his poetr}'', his works of reform, and his lofty ideas, 
unless — she is there too. 

K it be said that learned women are prone to 
think lightly of home comforts and home duties, to 
despise phj^sical labor, to look down on the ignorant, 
let us hasten to reply that learning is not culture, and 
that we want not learned mothers, but enlightened 
mothers , wisely educated mothers . And let us stead- 
fastly and perseveringly assert that enlightenment 
and a wise education are essential to the accomplish- 
ment of the mother's mission. When the house- 
father feels the truth of this, then shall we see him 
bringing home every publication he can lay his hands 
on which treats intelligently of mental, moral, or 
ph3'sical training. Then shall we hear him saying to 
the house-mother, " Cease, I pray j^ou, this ever- 



THE OTHER FART OF ''WOMAN'S MISSION:' 39 

lasting toil. Read, stud}^, rest. With your solemn 
responsibilities, it is madness thus to spend 3'ourself, 
thus to waste yourself. ' ' In his home shall the true 
essentials assume that position which is theirc by 
right, and certain occupations connected with that 
clamorous square inch of surface in the upper part of 
the mouth shall receive only their due share of atten- 
tion. For in one way or another, either by lessening 
the work or by hiring workers, the mother shall have 
her leisure. 

And what will women, what will the house-moth- 
ers, do when the}'" feel this truth ? Certainly not as 
they now do. Now it is their custom to fill in 
every chink and crevice of leisure time with sewing. 
" Look," sai.l a 3'oung mother to me : "I made all 
these myself, when holding the bab}^ or b}^ sitting 
up nights." They were children's clothes, beauti- 
fully made, and literally covered with ruffies and 
embroidery. Oh the thousands of stitches ! The 
ruffles ran up and down, and over and across, and 
three times round. Being white, the garments were 
of course changed daily. In the intervals of baby- 
tending, the mother snatched a few minutes here and 
a few minutes there to starch, iron, flute, or crimp a 
ruffle, or to finish off a dress of her own. This 
" finishins: off" was carried on for weeks. When 



40 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

her haby was asleep, or was good, or had its little 
ruffles all fluted, and its little sister's little ruffles 
were all fluted, then would she seize the opportunitj^ 
to stitch, to plait, to flounce, to pucker, and to braid. 
Wherever a hand's breadth of the original material 
was left visible, some bow, or band, or queer device, 
was fashioned and sewed on. This zealous indi- 
vidual, b}' improving ever}' moment, b^' sitting up 
nights, by working with the baby across her lap, 
accomplished her task. The dress was finished, and 
worn with unutterable complacency-. It is this last 
part which is the worst part. Thej- have no mis- 
givings, these mothers. The}- expect 3"our warm 
approval. " I can't get a minute's time to read,'* 
said this industrious person ; and, on another occa- 
sion, " I'll own up, I don't know any thing about 
taking care of children." Swift, speaking of women, 
said that the}' " employ more thought, memory, 
and application to become fools than would serve to 
make them wise and useful ; ' ' and perhaps he spoke 
trul}'. For suppose this young mother had been as 
eager to gain ideas as she was to accomplish a bias 
band, a French fold, or a flounce. Suppose that, in 
the intervals of baby-tending, instead of fluting her 
little girls' ruffles and embroidering their garments, 
she had ti'ied to snatch some information wh ch 



THE OTHER PART OF "WOMAN'S MISSIONS 41 

would help her in the bringing up of those little 
girls. The truth is, mothers take their leisure time 
for what seems to them to be first in importance. 
It is eas}^ to see what the}^ consider essentials, and 
what, from them, children are learning to consider 
essentials. The " knowingness " of some of our 
children on subjects connected with dress is simply 
appalling. A girl of eight or ten summers will 
take you in at a glance, from topmost plume to 
boot-tap, b}' items and collectivel}', anal^'tically and 
s^'ntheticall}^ She discourses, in technical terms, 
of the fall of your draper}^, the propriety of j'oar 
trimmings, and the effect of this, that, or the other. 
She has a proper appreciation of what is French in 
your attire, and a proper scorn of what is not. She 
recognizes " real lace " in a twinkle of her e^'e, and 
" all wool " with a touch of her finger-tips. Plainly 
clad school-children are often made to suffer keenly 
by the cutting remarks of other school-children 
sumptuously arrayed. A little girl aged six, return- 
ing from a childs's party, exclaimed, " O mamma! 
What do you think ? Bessie had her dress trimmed 
with lace, and it wasn't real ! " 

The law, "No child shall walk the street in a 
plain dress," is just as practically a law as if it had 
been enacted b}'' the legal authorities. Mothers 

4* 



42 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

obey its high behests, and dare not rebel against it. 
Look at our little girls going to school, each with 
her tucks and ruffles. Who "gets time" to do 
all that sewing ? where do they get it, and at what 
sacrifices ? A goodl}' number of stitches and mo- 
ments go to the making and putting on of even one 
ruffle on one skirt. Think of all the stitches and 
moments necessary for the making and putting of all 
the ruffles on all the skirts of the several little girls 
often belonging to one famil}' ! What a prospect 
before her has a mother of little girls ! And there 
is no escape, not even in common sense. A woman 
considered sensible in the very highest degree will 
dress her little girl like other little girls, or perish 
in the attempt. How many do thus perish, or are 
helped to perish, we shall never know. A frail, 
delicate w^oman said to me one day, " Oh, I do 
hope the fashions will change before Sissy grows 
up, for I don't see how it will be possible for me to 
make her clothes." You observe her submissive, 
law-abiding spirit. The possibility of evading the 
law never even suggests itself. There is many a 
feeble mother of grown and growing " Sissj^s " to 
whom the spring or fall dressmaking appears like 
an avalanche coming to overwhelm her, or a Jugger- 
naut coming to roll over her. She asks not, " How 



THE OTHER PART OF ''WOMAN'S MISSION." 43 

shall I escape? " but, " How shall I endure? " Let 
her console herself. These semi-annual experiences 
are all " mission." All sewing is " mission ; " all 
cooking is "mission." It matters not what sne 
cooks, nor what she sews. "Domestic," and worthy 
all praise, does the community consider that woman 
who keeps her hands emplo^'ed, and is bodily present 
with her children inside the house. 

But her bodilj^ presence, even with mother love 
and longing to do her best, is not enough. There 
should be added two things, — knowledge and wis- 
dom. These, however, she does not have, because 
to obtain them are needed what she does not get, — 
leisure, tranquillit}^, and the various resources and 
appliances of culture ; also because their importance 
is not felt even by herself; also because the com- 
munity does not jxt see that she has need of them. 
And this brings us round to the point we started 
from, — namely, that the present unsatisfactory 
state of things is owing largely to the want of 
'nsight, or unenlightenment, which prevails con- 
cerning what woman needs and must have in order 
rightly to fulfil her mission. 



44 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 



CHAPTER V. 

OTHER CAUSES CONSIDERED. MASCULINE IDEA OF 

woman's WORK. 

A NOTHER supporting cause, as we maj' call it, 
of the existing state of things is the igno- 
rance of mankind concerning the cost of cariying on 
the famil}^, — not the cost to themselves in mone}^, 
but the cost to woman in endurance. Of its power 
to exhaust her vital forces thej^ have not the remo- 
test idea. Each of its little ten-minute duties seems 
so trifling that to call it work appears absurd. The} 
do not reflect that often a dozen of these ten-minute 
duties must be crowded into an hour which holds but 
just six ten-minutes ; that her da}^ is crowded with 
these crowded hours ; that consequently she can 
never be free from hurr}^ and that constant hurry is 
a constant strain upon her in ever}^ way. The}^ them- 
selves, they think, could do up the work in half the 
time, and not feel it a bit. 'Scarcely a man of them 
but thinks the dishes might be just rinsed oflf imder 



THE OTHER PART OF ''WOMAN'S MISSION :' 45 

the faucet, and stood up to dry. Scarcel)- a man of 
them who, if this were tried, would not cast more 
than inquiring glances at his trencher ; for it is 
alwa^'s what is not done that a man sees. If one 
chair-round escapes dusting, it is that chair-round 
which he particularl}' notices. In his mind then are 
two ideas : one is of the whole long da}^, the other of 
that infinitesimal undone duty. The remark visible 
on his countenance is this: "The whole day, and 
no time to dust a chair-round ! ' ' 

** The painful warrior famoused for fight, 
After a thousand victories, once foiled. 
Is from the book of honor razed quite, 
And all the rest forgot for which she toiled." 

Many a toiling housewife, warring against untidi- 
ness, has felt the truth of these lines, though she 
may not have known that the great poet embodied 
it in w^ords. 

One mistake of man's is, that he does not look 
upon the tidy state of a room as a result, but as one 
into which, if left to itself, it would naturally fall 
and remain. We know, alas ! too well, that every 
room not only has within itself possibilities of un- 
tidiness, but that its constant tendenc}^ is in that 
direction, which tendency can only be checked by 



46 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

as constant a vigilance. Again, husbands do not 
always seem to understand plain English. There are 
certain expressions in common use among women, 
which, if husbands did understand plain English, 
would make them sadder and wiser men. *' I'm 
completely used up;" "I never know what 'tis 
to feel rested ; " " I'm too tired to sleep ; " " I'm 
as tired in the morning as when I go to bed ; ' ' 
" Every nerve in me throbs so that I can't go to 
sleep ; " " The life has all gone out of me ; " 
*' I am crazed with cares ; " " The care is worse 
than the work ; " " Nothing keeps that woman 
about the house but her ambition; " " It is the 
excitement of work that keeps her up." Now, how 
is it that a woman works on after she is completely 
used up ? What is the substance, the capacit}' of 
this "ambition" on which alone she lives? A 
friend of mine, in answer to a suggestion that she 
should stop and take a few daj^s' rest, said, "I 
don't dare to stop. If I let down, if I give way 
for ever so little while, I never could go on again." 
Think of living always in this state of tension ! 
The dictionary definition of " tension" is " a pecu- 
liar, abnormal, constrained condition of the parts, 
arising from the action of antagonistic forces, in 
which they endeavor to return to their natural 



OTHER CAUSES CONSIDERED. 47 

state." Exactly. There are thousands of women 
in just this condition, sustained there by the daily 
pressure and excitement of hurry, and by a stern, 
unyielding " must." In the treadmill of their house- 
hold labor, breakfast, dinner, and supper revolve in 
ceaseless course, and they must step forward to 
meet them. And, when more of her vitality is ex- 
pended daily than is daily renewed by food and rest, 
woman does, actually and without any figure of 
speech, use herself up. Yes, she burns herself for 
fuel, and goes down a wreck, — not always to death ; 
often it is to a condition made wretched b}' suffer- 
ing, sometimes to insanit}''. 

I would not have believed this last had I not 
found it in print. In an English magazine occurs 
the following passage: "Some whose e^-es follow 
these lines will recollect disagreeable seasons w^hen 
their attention was distracted by conflicting cares 
and claims ; when no one thing, however urgent, 
could be* finished, owing to the intrusion of one or 
more inevitable distractions. A continued course 
of such inroads on the mind's serenity could be sup- 
ported but by few intellects. Most pitiable is the 
mind's state after some hours of such distracting 
occupation, in which every business interferes with 
every other, and none is satisfactorily accomplished. 



48 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

Where there is a tendency to insanity it is sure to be 
developed b}^ such an undesirable state of things." 
This is fit!}' supplemented by a statement made in 
an American magazine : ' ' We are told that the 
woman's wards in the New England insane asylums 
are filled with middle-aged wives — mothers — driven 
there by overwork and anxi^et}-." 

Not long since, I heard Mr. Whittier tell the 
story of a woman who attempted suicide by throw- 
ing herself into the water. ' ' Discouragement ' ' was 
the reason she assigned for committing so dreadful 
a deed, — discouragement at the never-ending rou- 
tine of household labor, and from feeling herself 
utterl}' unable to go on with it. This, w^ith care, 
want of riecreation, and long confinement in-doors, 
had probably caused temporary insanity. 

The " never-endingness " of woman's work is 
something to be considered. A wide-awake writer, 
speaking of husbands and wives, saj's, "The out- 
door air, the stir, the change of ideas, the passing 
word for this man or that, unconsciousl}' refresh, and 
lift him from the cankering care of work. . . . His 
work msiy be heavier, but it wears him on one side 
only. He has his hours sacred to business to give to 
his brief, his sermon, his shop. There is no drain on 
the rest of his faculties. She has not a power of 



OTHER CAUSES CONSIDERED, 49 

mind, a skill of bod}', which her daily life does not 
draw upon. She asks nothing better of fate than 
that whatever strength she has of bod}- and mind 
shall be drained for her husband and children. Now, 
this spirit of mart3'rdom is a very good thing when 
it is necessary. For our part, we see no occasion 
for it here." This is the point exactly. The " mar- 
tyrdom," too often, is for objects not of the highest 
importance. The lack of appreciation of woman's 
work, as shown by man-kind in the newspapers, 
would be amusing, were it not saddening. Articles, 
dictating with solemn pomposity " what every mar- 
ried woman should be able to do," often appear in 
print, and these embodiments of (masculine) wis- 
dom editors are eager to cop)\ ' ' Every married 
woman should be able to cut and make her own, her 
husband's, and her children's clothes." The hus- 
band reads, — aloud of course, this time, — and nods 
approval. "To be sure, that would make a sav- 
ing." The wife hears, and sighs, and perhaps 
blames herself that on account of her incapacity 
money is wasted. What the newspaper says must 
be true. Perhaps b}^ sitting up later, by getting up 
earlier, b}^ hurrying more, and by never setting her 
foot outside the door, she might follow this sugges- 
tion. " Ever}^ married woman" whose boys take 



50 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

to reading should snip such newspaper articles into 
shreds, burn them up, and bury the ashes. 

Another cause of the present state of things is 
the lowness of the standard which has been set up 
for woman to attain. We have glanced at some of 
the things which are expected of the woman who 
carries on the family. What is not expected is a 
point of no less significance. Neither husbands nor 
compan}^ claim the right to expect, in that smooth, 
agreeable surface mentioned at the beginning, the 
results of mental culture. They may be gi-atified 
at finding them ; but so long as the woman is amia- 
ble, thrifty, efl3cient, and provides three good meals 
every day, they feel bound not to complain. Here 
are the ten " Attributes of a Wife," as gi'ouped by 
one of the world's famous writers : note what he 
allots to education : " Four to good temper, two to 
good sense, one to wit, one to beaut}' ; the remain- 
ing two to be divided among other qualities, as for- 
tune, connection, education or accomplishments, 
family, and so on. Divide these two parts as 3'ou 
please, these minor proportions must all be expressed 
by fractions. Not one among them is entitled to 
the dignit}' of an integer." 

The prevalent belief that woman is in some 
degree subordinate to man, is rather taken for 



OTHER CAUSES CONSIDERED. 51 

granted than expressly taught, as witness a certain 
kind of legend often told to 3'oung girls: "Once 
upon a time a 3'oung man, visiting a strange house, 
saw a damsel putting dough into pans, and saw that 
the dough which stuck to the platter was left stick- 
ing there ; whereupon the young man said, ' This 
is not the wife for me.' " In another house he sees 
a damsel who leaves not the dough which sticks to 
the platter ; and he says, " This is the wife for me." 
Another young man offers to successive maidens a 
skein of tangled silk to wind. The first sa^-s, " I 
can't;" the second tries, and gives up; the third 
makes a quick job of it with her scissors ; the fourth 
spends hours in patiently untangling, and is 
chosen. Now, what shows the state of public sen- 
timent is the fact that in none of these legends is it 
intimated that the young man was fortunate in secur- 
ing a thrifty or a patient wife. It was the thrifty or 
patient young woman who was fortunate in being 
selected hj a young man, — by any 3'oung man ; 
for the character of the youth is never stated. 
There is an inference, also, in the second one given, 
that the "hours" of a 3'oung woman can be em- 
ploj^ed to no better purpose than that of untangling 
a skein of silk. All this is throwino; lisht on our 
problem, for so long as so much is expf.icted of 



52 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

woman physically, and so little in the way of mental 
acquirements ; so long as it is taken for granted that 
she is a subordinate being, that to contribute to the 
phj'sical comfort and pleasure of man, and gain his 
approval, are the highest purposes of her existence, 
• — it will not be considered essential that she should 
acquire culture. These aims are by no means un- 
hnportant ones, or unworthy ones ; but are they in 
all cases the highest a woman should possess ? 



REASONS FOR A CHANGE. 53 



CHAPTER VI. 

REASONS FOR A CHANGE. THE EARLY TRAINING OP 

WOMEN. COMMON FALLACIES. THE EDUCATION 

OF MOTHERS. 

"T TAVHSTG glanced at the present state of 
-^ — things, and at some of its causes, let us 
show reasons why it should be changed. 

A sufficient reason is, because it dwarfs the intel- 
lect, ruins the health, and shortens the lives, of so 
man}" women. Another reason is, that whereas 
the husband may keep himself informed on matters 
of general interest in literature, art, science, and 
progress, while the wife must give her mind to 
domestic activities, there is danger of the two grow- 
ing apart, which growing apart is destructive of 
that perfect sympathy so essential to the happiness 
of married life. A certain librarian remarked. " If 
a man wants a book for himself, I pick out a solid 
work ; if for his wife, a somewhat light and trifling 
one." Third, because human beings have so much 
5* 



54 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

in common, are so closely connected, that the good 
of all requires the good of each, and each of all. And 
here is where the shortsightedness of the aristoc 
racy of wealth and the aristocracy of sex are strik- 
ingly apparent. They fail to see that the very infe- 
riorit}^ of what are called the inferior classes re-acts 
on the superior classes. We all know how it is in 
the human body. An injury to one small bone in 
the foot may cause distress which shall be felt ' ' all 
over," and shall disturb the operations of the lordly 
brain itself. So in the body social. The wealthy 
and refined, into whose luxurious dwellings enters 
no unsightly, no uncleanly object, may say to them- 
selves, " Never mind those poor wretches down at 
the other end, huddled together in their filthy tene- 
ments. They are ignorant, the}^ don't know how 
to get along ; but their condition doesn't concern 
us, so long as our houses are light, clean, and 
airy." 

Those poor wretches, however, because they are 
ignorant, because they don't know how " to get 
along," because they live huddled together in filth}' 
tenements, breathing foul air, starving on bad food, 
become a read}' prey to infectious diseases. The 
infectious diseases spread. Men of wealth, from the 
refined and cleanl}- quarters, encounter in their 



REASONS FOR A CHANGE. 55 

business walks representatives from the degraded 
and disgusting quarter, and take from them the 
seeds of those diseases ; or, on some fatal day, a 
miasma from the corruption of the degraded quarter 
is wafted in at the windows of the luxurious dwell- 
ings, and the idols of those dwellings are strick'^n 
down. So in the body politic. The wise and well- 
to-do enact laws, obedience to which is for the 
general good. The ignorant and poverty-stricken, 
because of their unenlightened condition, cannot 
see that obedience is for the good of all, and break 
those laws. Hence crimes, the effects of which the 
wise and well-to-do are made to feel, and for the 
punishment of which they are made to pay. It is 
the same with man and woman. Man says, "Let 
woman manage her domestic concerns, attend to 
her children, and gain the approbation of her hus- 
band. These are her chief duties, and for these 
little culture is needed." But woman becomes the 
mother of sons who become men ; and the character, 
condition, and destiny of those sons who become 
men are, as we have seen, determined largely b}' 
the condition, pre-natal and post-natal, of the 
mothers. So that the ignorance in which woman is 
kept by man re-acts on man. 

A fourth reason for a change is, that we live in a 



06 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

republic. In a republic every man has a voice in 
public affairs. Ever}'- man is first a child ; and 
children, commonly speaking, are what the mother's 
influence helps to make them. Therefore, if j^ou 
would have the country wisely, honestly, and 
decently governed, give the children the right kind 
of mothers. If the community knew its own 
interests, it would not merely permit women all 
possible means of culture, but would force all 
possible means of culture upon them. It would 
say, " We can't afford that you exhaust 3^ourselves 
by labor, that 3'ou fritter yourselves awa}' in vani- 
ties ; for by your deficiencies we all suffer, b}' jour 
losses we all lose." 

But mark how stupid the communit}' is. It desires 
that all its members shall possess wisdom and integ- 
rity ; it declares that, in regard to character, a 
great deal depends on early training ; it declares 
that this early training is the duty of mothers ; and 
yet it does not take the next step, and say. Therefore 
mothers should be qualified for their duty, and have 
every facility for performing it satisfactoril}^ It 
asserts with great solemnit}^, "Just as the twig is 
bent the tree's inclined," then gives all its twigs 
into the hands of mothers, saj'ing, "Here, bend 



REASONS FOR A CHANGE. 57 

these : it makes a terrible difference how they are 
bent, but then it is not important that 3'ou have 
given any attention to the process." Or, to vary the 
statement, the comrcunity virtually addresses woman 
in this way : " A fearful responsibilit}^ rests upon you. 
It is the responsibility of training these young, 
immortal souls. This is your mission, your high 
and holy calling. You will, however, get little time 
to attend to it ; and, as for any special preparation 
or knowledge of the subject, none is required. 
There's a great deal of delicate and complex 
machinery to superintend, and a mistake will tell 
fearfully in the result ; but, never mind, we'll trust 
luck." " Do we not," as Horace Mann once asked, 
"do we not need some single Avord where we can 
condense into one monosyllable the meaning of ten 
thousand fools?" Some deu}^ the power of early 
training. " Look ! " they sa}^, " there is a family 
of children brought up just alike, and see how 
differentl}^ they all turn out." But a family of 
children should not be brought up just alike. 
Different temperaments require different treatment. 
And this is exactly the point where knowledge is 
necessary, and a wisdom almost superhuman. That 



68 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

character is the result of " inherited traits," as well 
as of education, does not affect the case, since chil- 
dren ' ' inherit ' ' from mothers and the sons of 
mothers. 



A WAY OUT. 59 



CHAPTER VII. 

A WAT OUT. 

"T^UT suppose we leave this part of our subject, 
-^-^ and endeavor now to find a way out of this 
present state of things. Let us keep the situation 
clearly before us. As things are, woman cannot 
obtain culture because of being overburdened with 
work and care, and also because of her enfeebled 
condition phj'sically. To what is this present state 
of things owing ? Largely to the unworthy views of 
both men and women concerning the essentials of 
life, and concerning the requirements of woman's 
vocation. And these unworthy views of men and 
women, to what are they owing? In a ver}- great 
measure to early impressions. Who, chief!}', are 
responsible for these? Mothers. They are also, as 
has been shown, responsible for the larger part of the 
prevailing invalidism of woman. Let us be sure to 
bear in mind that these evils, these hinderances to 
culture, can be traced directlv back to the influence 



60 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

and the ignorance of mothers ; for here is where the 
whole thing hinges. Here is a basis to build upon. 
Child-training is at the beginning. Child-training 
is woman's work. Everybod}^ sa3^s so. The wise 
say so. The foolish say so. The " oak and vine " 
man says so. The " private wa^^, dangerous pass- 
ing " man says so. Yer}^ good. If this is woman's 
work, educate her for her work. If "educate" 
isn't the right word, instruct her, inform her, teach 
her, prepare her ; name the process as 3'ou choose, 
so that it enables her to comprehend the nature of 
her business, and qualifies her to perform its duties. 
She requires not only general culture, but special 
preparation, a technical preparation if 3'ou will. 
Let this come in as the supplementary part of what 
is called her education. Many will pronounce this 
absurd ; but wh}^ is it absurd? Sa}' we have in our 
young woman's class at the " Institute," thirty or 
forty or fift}" 3'oung women. Now, we know that 
almost every one of these, either as a mother or in 
some other capacit}', will have the care of children. 
The "Institute" assumes to give these young 
women such knowledge as shall be useful to them 
in after life. If " Institutes" are not for this pur- 
pose, what are they for? One might naturally sup- 
pose, then, that the kind of knowledge which its 



A WAY OUT. 61 

pupils need for their special vocation would rank 
first in importance. And what kind will they need? 
Step into the house round the corner, or down the 
street, and ask that young mother, looking with 
unutterable tenderness upon the little group around 
her, what knowledge she would most value. She 
will say, ' ' I long more than words can express to 
know how to keep these children well. I want to 
make them good children, to so train them that they 
will be comforts to themselves and useful to others. 
But I am ignorant on every point. I don't know 
how to keep them well, and I don't know how to 
control them, how to guide them." 

" It is said," you repl}', " that every child brings 
love with it. Is not love all-powerful and all- 
sufficient ? ' ' 

"Love does come with every child; but, alas! 
knowledge does not come with the love. My love is 
so strong, and yet so blind, that it even does harm. 
I would almost give up a little of my love if knowl- 
edge could be got in exchange." 

Here, perhaps, jou inquire, somewhat sarcas- 
ticall}', if no instruction on these subjects was given 
at the " Institute." She opens wide her astonished 
eyes. "Oh, no ! No, indeed, — surely not." 

" What, then, were you taught there? " 

6 



62 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

••'Well, many things, — Roman histoiy for one. 
We learned all about the Punic Wars, their 
causes, results, and the names of the famous gen- 
erals on both sides." 

Now, if a Bostonian were going to Europe, it 
would do him no harm to be told the names of all 
the streets in Chicago, the names of the inhabitants 
of each street, with the stories of their lives, their 
quan-els, reconciliations, and how each one rose or 
fell to his position. Acquiring these facts would 
be good mental exercise, and from a part of them 
he would learn something of human nature. But 
what that man wants to know more than any thing 
is, on what da}^ the steamer sails for Europe : is she 
seaworthy? what are her accommodations? is she 
well provisioned, well manned, well commanded? 
are her life-preservers stuffed with cork or shav- 
ings? So, if a man is going to build a boat, you 
might show him a collection of fossils, and discourse 
to him of the gneiss sj'^stem, the mica-schist system, 
or talk of the atomic theor}^ and protoplasms. Such 
knowledge would help to enlarge his views, extend 
his range of vision, and strengthen his memorj^, 
but would not help the man to build his boat. He 
wants to know how to lay her keel straight, how to 
hit the right proportions, how to make her mind 



A WAY OUT. 63 

her helm, how to make her go ; and he has been 
taught that the great pach3^derms are divided into 
paleotheria and anoplotheria. The same of our 
j^oung mother : she wants to know how to bring up 
her child, and she has been taught " how many 
Punic wars there were, their causes, results, and the 
names of the famous generals on both sides." 

It may be asked here, in what way, or by what 
studies, shall the young woman's class at the ''In- 
stitute " be taught the necessary knowledge ? It 
would be presumption in one like me to attempt a 
complete answer to that question. But the profes- 
sors, presidents, and stockholders of our "Insti- 
tutes " are learned and wise. If these will let their 
light shine in this direction as they have let it shine 
in other directions, a way will be revealed. But, 
while learning and wisdom are getting ready to do 
this, mere common sense may offer a few sugges- 
tions. Suppose the j'oung woman's class were 
addressed somewhat in this way : "It is probable 
that all of you, in one capacity or another, will have 
the care of 3'oung children, and that for the major- 
it}^ it will be the chief duty of your lives. There 
is, then, nothing in the whole vast range of learning 
so important to you as knowledge on this subject." 
This for a general statement to begin with. As for 



64 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

the particular subjects and their order, common 
sense would ask, first, What does a young mother 
want to know first ? First, she wants to know how 
to keep her child alive, how to make it strong to 
endure or defy disease. She needs to be taught, for 
instance, why a child should breathe pure air, and 
why it should not get its pure air in the form of 
draughts. She needs to know if it makes smy differ- 
ence what a child eats, or how often, and that a 
monotonous diet is injurious. She needs to know 
something of the nutritive qualities of different 
kinds of food, and why some are eas}^ of digestion 
and others not, and in what w^a}^ each kind builds 
up the sj^stem. She needs to understand the chem- 
istry of cookery, in order to judge what kinds of 
food are calculated to make the best blood, bones, 
and muscles. She needs to have some general 
ideas in regard to waj^s of bringing back the s^'stem 
from an abnormal to a healthy state ; as, for instance, 
equalizing the circulations. Learned professors, 
women ph3'sicians, will know how to deliver courses 
of lectures on all such subjects, and to tell what 
books have been written on them, and where these 
books may be found. And, as for the absurdity of 
teaching these things beforehand, compare that with 
the absurdity of rearing a race to hand over to phy- 



A WAY OUT. 65 

sicians and undertakers, and choose between. And 
even apart from their practical bearing, why are not 
such items of knowledge as well worth learning, as 
simply items of knowledge, as the hundreds of 
others which, at present, no 3'oung woman's course 
can be without? There is no doubt that if mothers 
were given a knowledge of these matters beforehand, 
instead of being left to acquire it experimentally, 
the present frightful rate of infant mortality (nearly 
twenty-five per cent) would be reduced. Plenty of 
light has been thrown on this subject, but the com- 
munity does not receive it. Here is some which was 
contributed to one of the Board of Health reports 
by a phj'sician. 

" The mother," he says, " requires something 
more than her loving instincts, her ready sj-mpathies. 
With all her good- will and conscientiousness, mis- 
takes are made. The records of infant mortality 
offer a melancholy illustration of the necessity of 
the mother's previous preparation for the care of her 
children. The first-born die in infancy In much 
larger proportion than their successors in the faLmilj. 
The mother learns at the cost of her first child, and 
is better prepared for the care of the second, and 
still better for the third and fourth, whose chances 
of development into full life and strength are much 



66 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

greater than those of the oldest brothers and 
sisters." 

Think of the mother learning " at the cost of her 
first child," and of the absurd 3'oung woman learn- 
ing beforehand ; and choose between . Also please 
compare the "previous preparation" here recom- 
mended with the mere bureau-drawer preparation, 
which is the only one at present deemed necessary. 
Another writer, an Englishman, speaking of the 
high rate of infant mortalit}", saj^s, " It arises from 
ignorance of the proper means to be emplo3'ed in 
rearing children," which certainl}' is plain language. 
Such facts and opinions as these would make an ex- 
cellent basis for a course of lectures at the " Insti- 
tute," to be given by competent women phj'sicians. 
The advertisements of " Mrs. Winslow's Soothing 
Syrup " would be remarkably suggestive in this 
connection. A mother of three little children said 
to me, "I give the bab}^ her dose right after break- 
fast ; and she goes to sleep, and sleeps all the fore- 
noon. That's the way I get my work done." We 
all know wh}^ the bab}^ sleeps after taking its dose. 
We do not know how manj'^ mothers adopt this 
means of getting their work done ; but the fact that 
the proprietor of this narcotic gained his immense 
wealth b}' the sale of it enables us to form some 
idea. 



A WAY OUT. 67 

The importance of educating nursery-girls for 
their calling, and the phj'sical evils which may arise 
from leaving young chikben entirely to the care of 
nui'serj'-girls, would be exceedingly suggestive as 
lecture subjects. Mr. Kingslej" asks, "Is it too 
much to ask of mothers, sisters, aunts, nurses, and 
governesses, that they should studj^ thrift of human 
health and human life by studying somewhat the 
laws of life and health ? There are books — I may 
sa}^ a whole literature of books — written b}" scien- 
tific doctors on these matters, which are, to my 
mind, far more important to the schoolroom than 
half the trashy accomplishments, so called, which 
are expected to be known by our governesses." 

But, supposing a mother succeeds in keeping her 
child alive and well, what knowledge does she de- 
sire next ? She desires to know next how to guide 
it, influence it, mould its character. She does all 
these, whether she tries to or not, whether she knows 
it or not, whether she wishes to or not. Says Hor- 
ace Mann, " It ought to be understood and felt, 
that in regard to children all precept and example, 
all kindness and harshness, all rebuke and commen- 
dation, all forms, indeed, of direct or indirect edu- 
cation, afiect mental growth, just as dew, and sun, 
and shower, or untimely frost, affect vegetable 



68 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

growth. Their influences are integrated and made 
one with the soul. They enter into spiritual com- 
bination with it, never afterward to be wholly 
decompounded. Thej^ are like the daily food eaten 
by wild game, so pungent in its nature that 
it flavors ever}^ fibre of their flesh, and colors 
every bone in their bodies. Indeed, so pervading 
and enduring is the effect of education upon the 
youthful soul, that it may well be compared to a 
certain species of writing ink, whose color at first 
is scarcely perceptible, but which penetrates deeper 
and grows blacker b}' age, until, if jou. consume the 
scroll over a coal-fire, the character will still be legi- 
ble in the cinders." 

In regard to inherited bad traits, the question 
arises, if even these may not be changed for the 
better by skilful treatment given at a suflSciently 
early period. Children inheriting diseased bodies 
are sometimes so reared as to become healthy men 
and women. To do this requires watchfulness and 
wise management. How do we know that by watch- 
fulness and wise management children born with 
inherited bad traits may not be trained to become 
good men and women? But the majority of mothers 
do not watch for such traits. It seldom occurs to 
them that the}' should thus watch. Wh^^ not bring 



A WAY OUT. 69 

the subject to the consideration of young women 
*' beforehand," when, being assembled in compa- 
nies, they are easy of access ? It is too late when 
they are scattered abroad, and burdened each with 
her pressing family duties. "Forewarned is fore- 
armed." 

Some are of the opinion that the badness which 
comes by inheritance cannot be changed. This is 
equivalent to believing that there is no help for the 
evil in the world. Unworthy and vicious parents 
are continuall}' transmitting objectionable traits to 
their children, who in turn will transmit them to 
theirs, and so on to the end of time. Shall we fold 
our hands, and resign ourselves to the prospect, 
while our educators go on ignoring the whole mat- 
ter, and leaving those who might affect a change 
ignorant that it is in their power to do so ? 

"But," says one, "the children of those people 
who thought so much about education, and who 
started with model theories, behave no better than 
other people's children." This may be true, and 
still prove nothing. ' ' Those people ' ' might not 
have thought wisely about education. Their model 
theories might not have been adapted to the various 
temperaments often found in one family. Their 
children might have been exceptionally faulty by 



70 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

nature ; unsuspected inherited traits may have de- 
veloped themselves, and interfered with the work- 
ings of the model theories. The failure of " those 
people " shows all the more the need of preparation 
given " beforehand," and given by those who make 
the subject a special stud}^, just as the professor 
of histor}', or mathematics, or natural philosoph}^ 
makes his department a special study. 

When we consider how much is at stake, it really 
seems as if learned and wise professors could not 
employ their learning and wisdom to better purpose 
than in devising ways of enlightening the " young 
woman's class " upon an}'' and every point which 
has a bearing on the intellectual and moral training 
of children. 



SUGGESTIONS FOR LECTURE TOPICS. 71 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LECTURE TOPICS. 

"ITT is not to be supposed that enlightenment on 
subjects pertaining to the intellectual and moral 
training of children can be given to a 3'oung woman 
in text-book fashion, cut and dried, put up in pack- 
ages, and labelled ready for use. But it will be some- 
thing gained lo set her thinking on these subjects, 
to make her IVcl then* importance, and to inform her 
in what books i:ud b}' what writers the}' have been 
considered. All this, and more to the same pur- 
pose, could be done by lectures and discussions, for 
which lectures and discussions even humble common 
sense need be at no loss to suggest topics. There 
are, for instance, the different methods of govern- 
ing, of reproAdng, of punishing, and of securing 
obedience ; the evils of corporal punishment, of 
governing b}^ ridicule, of showing temper while pun- 
ishing. Then there are questions like these : How 



72 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

far should love of approbation be encouraged? 
What prominence shall be given to externals, as 
personal appearance, the minutiae of behavior, 
politeness of speech ? How may perfect politeness 
be combined with perfect sincerit}^ ? Waj^s of incul- 
cating integrity. How to teach self-reliance, with- 
out fostering self-conceit. How to encourage 
pmdence and economy, and at the same time dis- 
courage parsimony. How to combine firmness with 
kindness. Implicit obedience a good basis to work 
on. How to enter into a child's life, and make it a 
happy one. How not to become a slave to a child's 
whims. The different amounts of indulgence and 
of assistance which different temperaments will 
bear. How shall liberality be inculcated, and ex- 
travagance denounced? On deceitfulness as taught 
by parents. On lying as taught by parents. On 
the impossibility of making one theory work in a 
whole family of children, or always on a single 
child. Shall obedience be implicit, and how early 
in the child's life shall it be exacted? On maiTiages. 
On the true issues of life. When shall ambition 
and the spirit of emulation be encouraged, and 
when repressed ? The possibility^ of too much fault- 
finding making a child callous. If mere common 
sense discovers so many subjects, what number may 



SUGGESTIONS FOR LECTURE TOPICS. 73 

not learning and wisdom discover when tiieir atten- 
tion shall be turned in this direction ? 

The " nursery-girl " topic might come up again, 
and be considered in its moral and intellectual 
aspects. Some mothers see their small children 
only once or twice a da}^, while the nurse is with 
them constantly. This fact might be made strik- 
ingly significant by placing it side b}- side with 
Horace Mann's words : " In regard to children, all 
precept and example, all kindness and harshness, 
all rebuke and commendation, all forms, indeed, of 
direct or indirect education, affect mental gi'owth, 
just as dew and sun and shower, or untimely frost, 
affect vegetable growth. Their influences are inte- 
grated and made one with the soul. They enter 
into spiritual combination with it, i ever afterward 
to be wholly decompounded," — also with a previ- 
ously quoted assertion, founded on actual experi- 
ments, that "it is the medium in which a child 
is habituall}^ immersed" which helps most in form- 
ing the child's character. The kind of reading 
which falls into the hands of the ^'oung would be 
found to be a lecture topic of appalling interest. 
Striking illustrations for such lectures could be 
taken from the advertisements and statistics of 
stor3'-paper and dime-novel publishers. The illus- 



74 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

trated papers which can be bought and are 
bought b}^ youth are crammed to overflowing 
with details of vice and barbarity. They have 
columns headed " A Melange of Murder," " Filli- 
cide, or a Son killing a Father," "Lust and Blood," 
"Fiendish Assassination," "Particulars of the 
Hanging of John C. Kell}'," "Carving a Darky," 
"An Interesting Divorce Case in Boston," "A 
Band of Juvenile Jack Sheppards." And the pic- 
tures match the reading, — a jealous lover shooting 
a half-naked girl ; a father murdering his family ; 
an inquisitive youth peering into a ladies' dressing- 
room. If the contents of these papers are bad for 
us to hear of, what must they be to the youth who 
read them? Dime novels are advertised in these 
same papers as being issued once a month, and 
supplied by all the news companies, " Sensational 
stories from the pens of gifted American novelists ! ' * 
" The Sharpers' League," " Lyte, or the Suspected 
One," "The Pirate's Isle," " Darrell, the Outlaw," 
" The Night Hawks, containing Midnight Robbery, 
Plots dark and deep," " The Female Poisoner," 
" Etne of the Angel Face and Demon Heart," 
" The Cannibal Kidnappers, a Sequel to the Boy 
Mutineers," " Life for Life, or the Spanish Gipsy 
Girl," " Tom Wildrake's School-days." Some of 



SUGGESTIONS FOR LECTURE TOPICS. 75 

these papers are entitled " Bojs' and Girls' " week 
lies. The old saj'ing is, " Build doves' nests, 
and doves will come." What kind of "nests'* 
are being built b}^ the young readers of these 
publications, of which it may almost literally be 
said, " no boy can do without one " ? The boy at 
school has one between the leaves of his geographj^ ; 
the boy riding, or sailing, or resting from his work 
or his pla}^, draws one from his pocket ; the grocer's 
boy comes forward to serve you, tucking one under 
his jacket. In the way of statistics, it might be 
stated that nineteen tons of obscene publications 
and plates for the same w'ere seized at one time in 
New- York City. Should representatives of "our 
best families " ask, "How does this affect us and 
ours ? " it could be answered that catalogues of 
academies and boarding-schools are obtained, and 
that these publications are then forwarded to pupils 
by mail. 

Topics of this kind would naturally suggest those 
of an opposite kind, as modes of awakening in 
children an appreciation of the beaut}', the sublim- 
ity, the wonderfulness, of the various objects in the 
world of nature ; also of cultivating in their minds 
a taste for the beautiful and the refined in art, liter- 
ature, manners, conversation. These considera- 



76 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

tions could be effeectivety introduced into a lecture 
or lectures " On the Building of Doves' Nests." 
Is it not ' ' essential ' ' that mothers should have the 
time, the facilities, and the knowledge necessary 
for accomplishing what is here suggested, and that 
they be made sensible of its importance ? But there 
is man}^ a busy mother now who can scarcelj^ ' ' take 
time ' ' to look out when her children call her to see 
a rainbow, much less to walk out with them among 
natural objects. 

The object of these lectures should not be to 
teach any particular theories on which to act in the 
management of children, but to so instruct, so to 
enlighten young women, that when the time for 
action comes they will act intelligenth'. With the 
majority of women the management of children is a 
mere " getting along." In this "getting along'* 
they often have recourse to deception ; thus teaching 
deceitfulness. The}^ are often unfair, punishing on 
one occasion what they smile at or wink at on 
another ; thus teaching injustice. The}' lose self- 
control, and punish when in anger ; thus setting ex- 
amples of violence and bad temper. It is proba- 
ble that a young woman who had been educated 
with a view to her vocation would be more likely to 
act wisely in these emergencies and in her general 



SUGGESTIONS FOR LECTURE TOPICS. 77 

course of management, than one who had not. There 
would be more chance of her taking pains to con- 
sider. She would not work so blindl}', so aim- 
lessly, so "from hand to mouth," as do some of 
our mothers. 

Such enlightenment is an enlightenment for which 
any good mother will be thankful. She wants it to 
work with. She feels the need of it every hour in the 
day. Why, then, is it not given to 3^oung women as 
a part of their education, and as the most important 
part? They are instructed in almost ever}^ thing 
else. They can give jow the areas, population, 
boundaries, capitals, and peculiarities of far- aw a}^ 
and insignificant provinces ; the exact measurements 
of mountain ranges, lakes, and rivers ; statistics, in 
figures, of the farthest isle beyond the farthest sea. 
They are lectured on the antediluvians, on the 
Millc}^ Way, on the Siamese, Japanese, North Pole, 
on all the ologies ; on the literature, modes of 
thought, and modes of life, of extinct races. They 
can converse in foreign tongues ; the}' are familiar 
with dead languages, and with the suj^erstitions, 
observances, and quarrels of certain races, barba- 
rous or otherwise, who existed thousands of years 
ago. In fact, they are taught, after some fashion, 
almost ever}' thing except what their life-work wil] 



78 A D 031 EST re PROBLEM. 

Bpeciall}^ require. Little will it avail a mother in 
her seasons of perplexity or of bereavement to re- 
member ' ' what wars engaged Rome after the Punic 
wars, and how many years elapsed before she was 
mistress of the Mediterranean." This and the fol- 
lowing questions are taken from the " Examina- 
tion Papers " of a popular ' ' Institute ' ' for young 
ladies. 

" Give names and dates of the principal engage- 
ments of the Persian wars, with the names of the 
great men of Greece during that period." 

" Show cause, object, and result of the ]?elopon- 
nesian war." 

"Give names and attributes of the seven kings 
of Rome." 

" After the kings were driven out, what does the 
internal history'- mainl}^ consist of ? " 

" What were the social, and what were the civil 
wars ? " 

Common sense might ask why every child born in 
the nineteenth century must go to work so solemnl}'" 
to learn the minute particulars of those old wars ! 
Still common sense would not declare such knowl- 
edge to be altogether worthless ; it would only sug- 
gest that woman wants the kind which will help her 
in her special department, more than she wants this 



SUGGESTIONS FOR LECTURE TOPICS. 79 

kind. Said a lad}^ in my hearing, — an only child 
reared in the ver}^ centre of wealth and culture, — 
*' I was most carefully educated ; but, when I came 
to be the mother of children, I found mj'self ut+'^rly 
helpless." 

It is gratifying to know that in regard to these 
matters common sense has very respectable learn- 
ing and wisdom on its side. A celebrated writer 
and thinker says, "If by some strange chance not 
a vestige of us descended to the remote future, save 
a, pile of our school-books, or some college examin- 
ation papers, we ma}^ imagine how jDuzzled an anti- 
quary of the period would be on finding in them no 
indication that the learners were ever likely to be 
parents. ' This must have been the curriculum for 
their celibates,' we may fanc}^ him concluding: 'I 
perceive here an elaborate preparation for many 
things ; especiall}' for reading the books of extinct 
nations (from which, indeed, it seems clear that 
these people had very little worth reading in their 
own tongue) , but I find no reference whatever to the 
bringing up of children. They could not have been 
so absurd as to omit all training for this gravest of 
responsibilities. Evidently, then, this was the 
school-course of one of their monastic orders.' 
Seriously, is it not an astonishing fact, that though 
7* 



80 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

on the treatment of offspring depend their lives 
or their deaths, and their moral welfare or ruin, 
not one word on such treatment is ever given to 
those who will hereafter be parents ? Is it not 
monstrous, that the fate of a new generation should 
be left to the chances of unreasoning custom, 
impulse, fanc}', joined with the suggestions of 
ignorant nurses and the prejudiced counsel of 
grandmothers? To tens of thousands that are 
killed, add hundreds of thousands that survive with 
feeble constitutions, and millions that grow up with 
constitutions not so strong as they should be, and 
you will have some idea of the curse inflicted on 
their offspring hj parents ignorant of the laws of 
life. With cruel carelessness the}' have neglected to 
learn any thing about these vital processes which 
the}^ are unceasinglj' affecting by their commands 
and prohibitions ; in utter ignorance of the simplest 
phj'siological laws, they have been, 3'ear by year, 
undermining the constitutions of their children, and 
have so inflicted disease and premature death not 
only on them but on their descendants. Consider 
the young mother and her nursery legislation. But 
a few 3^ears ago she was at school, where her mem- 
ory was crammed with words, names, and dates ; 
where not one idea was given her respecting the 



SUGGESTIONS FOR LECTURE TOPICS. 81 

iiiethods of dealing with the opening mind of child- 
hood. The intervening 3'ears have been passed in 
pra<itising music, in fancy work, in novel-reading, 
and in part3'-going ; no thought having been jQi 
given to the grave responsibilities of maternity. 
And now see her with an unfolding human charac- 
ter committed to her charge, — see her profoundly 
ignorant of the phenomena with which she has to 
deal, undertaking to do that which can be done but 
imperfectl}^ even with the aid of the profoundest 
knowledge. . . . Lacking knowledge of mental 
phenomena, with their causes and consequences, her 
interference is frequently more mischievous than 
absolute passivity would have been." 

This writer, it seems, would also have young men 
educated with a view to theu- probable duties as 
fathers, and so, of course, would we all ; and much 
might be said on this point, especially of its bearing 
on the solution of our problem : still, as Mr. Froth- 
ingham said in a recent address, " The mother, of 
all others, is the one to foster and control the indi- 
viduality of the child." It was "good mothers" 
which Napoleon needed in order to secure the wel- 
fare of France. " Such kind of women as are the 
mothers of great men," is a significant sentence I 
have seen somewhere in print. In fact, so much 



82 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

depends on mothers, that there seems no possible 
way by which our problem can be fully solved until 
the right kind of mothers shall have been raised up, 
and their children be grown to maturity. 



WAYS OF IMMEDIATE ESCAPE. 83 



CHAPTER IX. 

WAYS OF IMMEDIATE ESCAPE. 

T3UT is there no possible way b}^ which mothers 
-^-"^ now living may escape from this present unsat- 
isfactory condition ? Yes ; but not many will adopt 
it. Simplicit}" in food and in dress would set free a 
very large number. A great part of what are called 
their ' ' domestic ' ' occupations consists in the prep 
aration of food which is worse than unnecessary 
A great part of theii- sewing work consists in fabri- 
cating " trimmings " which are worse than useless, 
even considering beaut}^ a use, wliich it is. Let 
these simplif}' their cooking and their dressing, and 
time for culture will appear, and for them our prob- 
lem be solved. We preach against the vice of in- 
temperance, and with reason. Let us ask ourselves 
if intemperance in eating and in dressing is not even 
more to be deplored. The former brings ruin to 
comparatively a few : by means of the latter the 



84 A DOMESTIC PKOBLEM. 

whole tone of mind among women is lowered ; and 
we have seen what it costs to lower the tone of 
mind among women. We must remember that not 
only is the condition of the mother reflected in the 
organism of her child, but that the child is taught 
by the dail}^ example of its mother what to look 
upon as the essentials of life. " I feel miserable,'* 
said a feeble house-mother, just recovering from sick- 
ness ; " but I managed to crawl out into the kitchen, 
and stir up a loaf of cake." Now, why should 
a sick woman have crawled out into the kitchen, 
to stir up a loaf of cake? Was that a paramount 
duty, — one which demanded the outlay of her little 
all of strength? This is the obvious inference, and 
one which children would naturall}- draw. A lady 
of intelligence, on hearing this case stated, ex- 
pressed the opinion that the woman did no more 
than her duty. Said this lady, "If her husband 
liked cake, it was her dut}^ to provide it for him at 
whatever sacrifice of health on her own part." 

Now, it seems reasonable to suppose that an 
affectionate couple would have a mutual understand- 
ing in regard to such matters. It seems reasonable 
to suppose that an affectionate husband would rather 
partake of plain fare in the society of a wife with 
sufficient health and spirits to be companionable, 



WAYS OF IMMEDIATE ESCAPE 85 

than to eat his cake alone while she was recovering 
from the fatigue of making it. 

Speaking of inferences, it is obvious what ones 
a child will draw from seeing its r^other deprive 
herself of sleep and recreation and reading-time in 
order to trim a suit a la mode. And these infer- 
ences of children concerning essentials have a 
might}^ bearing on our problem. Some ladies de^ 
fend the present elaborate stjle of dress on the 
ground that it affords the means of subsistence to 
sewing-girls. There is something in this, but I 
think not so much as appears. Go into the upper 
lofts where much of this sewing is done, and what 
will 3'ou find? You will find them crowded with 
young girls, bending over sewing-machines, or over 
work-tables, breathing foul air, and, in some cases, 
engaged in conversations of the most objection- 
able character. Their pa}- is ridiculously small, — 
a dollar and a half for doing the machine-work 
on a full-trimmed fashionable " suit." I learned 
this, and about the conversations, from a worker 
at one of these establishments. Clothes, especially 
outside clothes, the}^ must have and will have ; 
consequently the saving must be made on food. 
Some, too poor to pa}- board, hire attic rooms, 
and pinch themselves in both fire and food. They 



86 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

often carr}' their dinner, say bread, tea, and con- 
fectioner's pie, and remain at the store all da}^ 
They are liable to be thrown among vile associates ; 
they are exposed to many temptations. They 
enrich their employers, but not themselves. In dull 
seasons their situation is pitiable, not to say danger- 
ous. A gi'eat number of them come from country 
homes. Of these, many might live comfortably in 
those homes, and others might earn a support by 
working in their neighbors' houses, where they 
would be considered as members of the families, 
have good lodging and nourishing food, and where 
their assistance is not onl}^ desu-ed, but in some 
cases actuall}^ suffered for. They prefer the excite- 
ments of city life. (Of course, these remarks do not 
apply to all of them.) Fashionable ladies may not 
employ shop-girls directl}" or indirectl}', but their 
example helps to make a market for the services of 
these girls. Another consideration is, that the poor 
seamstress who is benefited directty b}' the monej- of 
fashionable ladies is taught as directl}', by their ex- 
ample, false views as to the essentials of life ; so that 
what helps in one wa}' hinders in another. All this 
should be considered b}^ those who bring forward 
•' sewing-girls' needs " as an argument for an elab- 
orate style of dress. Even were this argument 



WAYS OF IMMEDIATE ESCAPE. 87 

sound, it fails to cover the case. A very large pro- 
portion of our women have not money enough to hire 
their sewing done, and it is upon these that the 
wearisome burden falls. To keep up, to vary with 
the var3'ing fashion, they toil in season and out of 
season. Da}' after day 3'ou will see them at their 
work-tables, their machines, their lap-boards ; rip- 
ping, stitching, turning, altering, furbishing ; com- 
plaining often of sideache, of backache, of headache, 
of aching all over ; denying themselves outdoor air 
and exercise and reading- time, — and all because 
they consider dressing fashionably an essential of 
life. With them, what costs only time, health, and 
strength, costs nothing. 

Think of this going on all over the country. 
Think of the sacrifices it involves. In view of them, 
it really seems as if those who can afford to hire 
their sewing done should give up elaborate trim- 
mings just for example's sake. To be sure, this 
is not striking at the foundation. To be sure, this 
is not the true way of bringing about a reform. 
But, while waiting to get at the foundation, would 
it not be well to work a little on the surface for 
the sake of immediate results ? You would refrain 
from taking a glass of wine if, by so doing, you 
made abstinence easier for your weaker brother or 



88 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

sister. Why not consider the weakness of these 
toiling sisters? It is not their fault that they do 
not see what are the true issues of life. They have 
not been wisely educated. If the wealthy and in- 
fluential would adopt a simple style of dress, their 
doing so would be the means of relieving many over- 
burdened women immediately, and of helping them 
to solve the problem we are considering. It is not 
wicked to dress simpty, and no principle would 
be sacrificed. Neither would good taste. In- 
deed, the latter is opposed to excessive orna- 
mentation, whether in dress, manners, speech, or 
writing. Long live beaut}^ ! Long live taste ! Long 
live the " aesthetic side " ! But simplicit}^ does 
not necessarilj^ iiiipty plainness, nor homeliness, 
nor uncouthness. There can be a simplicit}'' of 
adornment. I am aware that acting for example's 
sake is not a sound principle of action ; but it is 
a question if it be not duty in this particular case. 
A lady phj'sician of large practice once said to me, 
" I see, among poor girls, so much misery caused 
by this," — meaning this rage for excessive trim- 
ming, — " that I can scarcely bring myself to wear 
even one plain fold." If it be asked. Should we 
not also relinquish costl}^ fabrics, and the elegant 
appointments of our dwellings ? it may be answered, 



WAYS OF IMMEDIATE ESCAPE. 89 

that " poor girls " commonly give up these as 
being entirely out of their reach. They huj low- 
priced material, and call the dress cheap Tvhich 
costs only their time, their strength, their sleep, 
and their opportunities for reading and recreation. 
We all know that the right way is to so educate 
woman that she will be sensible in these matters. 
The external life is but the natural outgrowth of the 
internal. It is of no use cutting off follies and frip- 
peries from the outside so long as the heart's desire 
for them remains. This heart's desire must have 
something better in its place, — something higher, 
nobler, worthier. This something is enlightenment ; 
and to effect the exchange we shall have to beo'in at 
the beginning, and enlighten the mothers. Follies 
and fripperies, in cooking or dressing, will give way 
before enlightenment, just as do the skin paintings, 
tattooings, gaudy colors, glass beads and tinsel, . 
and other absurdities of savage tribes ; just as have 
done the barbaric customs and splendors of the 
barbaric ages. Woman is not quite out of her 
barbaric stage yet. At any rate, she is not fully 
enlightened. The desire for that redundancy of 
adornment which is in bad taste still remains. In 
the process of evolution, the nose-ring has been cast 
off ; but rings are still hooked into the flesh of the 
8* 



90 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

ears, and worn with genuine barbaric complacency. 
When women are all wisely educated, our problem 
will melt awa}^ and disappear. The wisely-educated 
woman will, of her own accord, lay hold on essen- 
tials and let go unessentials. She will do the best 
thing with her time, the best thing with her means. 
She may conform to fashion, but will not feel 
obliged to do so. In fact, when women become 
enlightened, non-conformity to fashion will be all 
the fashion. Right of private judgment in the 
matter will be conceded. All women shall dress as 
seemeth to them good ; and no woman shall say, or 
think, or look, "Why do ye so?" Those having 
insufficient means and time will be so wise as not to 
feel compelled to dress like those who have plenty 
of both. 

Meanwhile, as an immediate measure of relief, 
suppose a dozen or twenty mothers in each town 
should agree to adopt a simple 3 et tasteful stj^e of 
dress for themselves and their little girls. This 
would lighten, at once, their heavy burden of work, 
give them "time to read," and would be a benefit 
to those little girls in man}' ways. 

Another way of immediate escape is by making 
the present race of husbands aware that their wives 
are being killed, or crazed, with hard work and care, 



WAYS OF IMMEDIATE ESCAPE. 91 

especiall}' husbands in the small towns and villages, 
and more especially farmers. In regard to these 
last, it is no exaggeration to say that their wives in 
manj^ cases work like slaves. Indeed, this falls 
short of the truth, for slaves have not the added 
burden of responsibility. As things are now, the 
woman who marries a farmer often goes, as one may 
sa}^, into a worldiouse, sentenced to hard labor for 
life. 

When these husbands permit their wives to ' ' over- 
work," it is not from indifference, but from sheer 
ignorance. They don't know, they don't begin to 
conceive, of the labor there is in " woman's work." 
It is true that neither are merchant-princes aware 
of what it costs their wives to superintend the com- 
plicated arrangements of their establishments ; to 
see that all the wheels, and the wheels within wheels, 
revolve smoothl}", and that comfort and st3^1e go 
hand in hand ; but let us consider now the farmers' 
wives, toiling on, and on, and on, in country towns, 
East, West, and all the way between. Their hus- 
bands, in not a few cases, are able to hire at least 
the drudger}" done, and would if they only knew. 
A 3'oung woman from a New Hampshire village, her- 
self an invalid from hard work, speaking to me of 
her mother, said, " She suffers ever}^ thing with her 

8* 



92 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

back. When she stoops down to the oven to attend 
to the pies, she has to hold on to her back, hard, to 
get up agam." I said, "Why, I shouldn't think 
3'our father would let her make them." — "Oh," 
said she, "father don't understand. He's hard." 
One day I was sitting in the house of a young wo- 
man, — a fragile, delicate creature, scarcely able to 
lift the baby she was holding, — when her husband 
came in. He was a working man, tall and robust 
looking. He walked toward the pantry. " You 
mustn't cut a pie," the little wife called out laugh- 
ing. Then turning to me, she said, with a sort of 
appealing, piteous glance, "He don't understand 
how hard it is for me to make pies." I know a 
young woman, not a strong woman, who, with a 
family of ver}^ little children, does her own work, 
and makes from one to two dozen pies at a com- 
mon baking, " 'cause hubby loves 'em." I know 
another, similarl}' situated, who gives her husband 
pies at breakfast as well as at other meals, because 
"he was brought up to them at home." Now, all 
these " hubbies " are loving " hubbies," but — they 
do not know. A friend of mine, an elderl}' woman 
lately deceased, came to her death (so her neighbors 
said) by hard work. " Killed with work," was the 
exact expression they used. She was a dear good 



WAYS OF IMMEDIATE ESCAPE. 93 

woman ; a person of natural refinement, of strict 
integrit}', of a forgiving spirit, intelligent, sweet- 
tempered, gentle-mannered ; everybody loved her. 
Her husband is a well-to-do farmer. He inherited 
money and lands, and has them still. His wife, 
who was every thing to him, whom he could not bear 
out of his sight, and for whom, if he had known, he 
would have sacrificed money and lands, is gone. 
But — he did not know. "Mother" never com- 
plained. "Mother" did the cooking, did the 
washing, scrubbed the floors. The}" had •' company 
forever," the neighbors said. " Mother " received, 
with smiling hospitality^, all who came. Help was 
hard to procure ; still help might and would have 
been procured had the husband known the case to 
be, as it certainl}^ was, a case of life or death. 
But — he did not know : so " mother ' ' died of 
work and care. 

You sometimes see a woman, after hurrying 
through her forenoon's work, sink down entirely 
prostrated, too tired to speak a loud word, every 
nerve in her body quivering. The jar of a footfall 
upon the floor sets her " all a-tremble.** As dinner- 
time approaches, you see that woman stepping briskly 
about the house, a light in her e3'e, a flush on her 
cheek, vivacit}' in her motions. She is " livnig on 



94 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

excitement ; " " it is ambition which keeps her up." 
Her husband, coming in to his dinner, takes her 
briskness and vivacit}' as matters of course, regard- 
ing her, probably, as a woman who lias nothing to do 
but to stay in the house all day. He has no more 
idea of the condition of that woman than her in- 
fant has. 

There are thousands of husbands, who, if they 
knew, would lift the burden of at least the heaviest 
drudgery from their wives, thus giving them longer 
leases of life. But, as a rule, wives keep their bad 
feelings to themselves. They know that " a com- 
plaining woman " is a term of reproach. They are 
exhorted in newspaper after newspaper to "make 
home happy b}^ cheerful looks and words." They 
wish to do so. With a laudable desire to save 
money, they spend themselves, and "get along" 
without help. It is truly a getting-along, not a 
living. Sometimes, however, they are obliged to 
mention their feebleness, or their ailments, as rea- 
sons for neglect of duty. It is astonishing how 
little importance, in many cases, the husband 
attaches to the facts thus stated. Apparently he 
considers ailments either as being natural to woman, 
or as afflictions sent upon her by the Lord. He 
seems to look upon her as a sort of machine, which 



WAYS OF IMMEDIATE ESCAPE. 9o 

is liable to run down, but which ma}^ easil3' be 
wound up by a little medicine, and set going again. 
If the medicine does not set her going again, he 
brings her pastor to pray for her ; if she dies, he 
saj's, " The Lord hath taken her away." All this 
because he does not know. When husbands are 
enlightened on this important point, this solemn 
point, they will insist on less work for women. 
Less work implies more leisure, and with leisure 
comes time for culture. 

Another step towards the immediate solution of 
our problem is, to establish the fact that woman 
stands on a level with man, and is neither an ap- 
pendage nor a "relict." Eelict, it is true, oulj^ 
means that which is left ; still we do not hear James 
Smith called the "relict" of Hannah Smith. 
Standing on the same level does not imply a like- 
ness, but simpl}' a natural equalit}-^, — equalit}', for 
instance, in matters of conscience, judgment, and 
opinion. It is often said, that, as a barbarous 
race progresses toward civilization, its women are 
brought nearer and nearer to an equality with its 
men. Thus in the barbaric stage woman is an ap- 
pendage to man, existing solely for his pleasure 
and convenience. She is then at her lowest. As 
civilization progresses, she rises gradually nearer 
an equality with man. 



96 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

When she is all the way up, when her individuality 
is recognized as man's is recognized, then civiliza- 
tion, in this respect, will have done its perfect work. 
"Woman among us is almost all the way up, but not 
quite. She is still considered, and considers herself, 
a little bit inferior by nature. We see at once how 
this bears upon our question. Just so much as 
woman is considered inferior, just so much less im- 
portance is attached to the nature of her occupations 
and acquirements. It is all right enough that an 
inferior being should devote herself to follies, or ta 
drudgeries, or to catering to fastidious appetites. 
These duties are on a level with her capacities ; for 
these she was created, and for these culture is 
unneeded. When civilization shall have finished 
its work, so far as to bring woman up to her true 
position of equalit}' with man, — equality in matters 
of conscience, judgment, opinion, and privileges, — 
then will man be able to put off from his shoulders 
the responsibilit}' of deciding what is, and what is 
not, proper for her to do. He has carried double 
weight long and uncomplainingly, and should in 
justice to himself be relieved. Equals need not 
decide for equals. Woman will take up the burden 
he throws off, and decide for herself. We must 
proceed cautiously here, for there are lions in the 



WATS OF IMMEDIATE ESCAPE. 97 

path. Being free to choose, she may choose to take 
interest in such kinds of public affairs as have a 
bearing on her special duty. We are interested 
in this, remember, because whatever affects her 
special duty affects the solution of our problem. 

Now let us ask, under our breaths, what are pub- 
lic affairs? The public consists of individuals. 
If there were no individuals there would be no public. 
Public affairs, then, are onh^ individual's affairs, 
managed collectively, because that is the most con- 
venient way of managing them. Their good or bad 
management affects the comfort of men, women, 
and children. Let us ask, wh}', simply by being 
christened "public affairs," should they be turned 
into a great, horrid bugaboo, too dangerous for 
women even to think of? Schools are a part of pub- 
lic affairs, and one would suppose it to be a part of 
woman's vocation to ascertain what is the influence 
of these schools on the children she is bringing up ; 
to learn whether they are working with her or against 
her. Cases might arise concerning choice of teach- 
ers, hours of study, kinds of stud}', ventilation, and 
so forth, in which it would be her duty, as a child- 
trainer, to express an opinion : like the following 
one, for instance, which comes to us in the news- 
papers, as " criminal negligence in the affairs at the 



98 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

Mount Pleasant Schoolhouse, by which about a dozen 
children have died of disease, others passed through 
severe sickness, and not a few, including teachers, 
made temporary invalids, or infected with boils or 
scrofulous sores, caused by breathing the polluted 
air that has infested the building from neglected 
earth-closets. The Board of Health oflScially 
announced that this was the cause of the sickness, 
and recommended the removal of the earth-closets. 
The janitor of the building, it seems, is incompetent, 
and holds his place only because he is also a member 
of the School Board ; which suggests the query 
whether men unfit for janitors are usually placed on 
the Nashua School Committee. . . . Five of the 
lads who died were among the the brightest scholars 
in the public schools. The building has not yet 
been properly renovated." 

Shall woman's sons be thus destroyed, and woman 
be powerless to interfere ? 

In urgent cases like this, it might become the duty 
of the mother to express her opinion by dropping a 
.slip of paper with a name written on it into a hat 
or a box. It would even be possible to conceive of 
emergencies in which these slips of paper would so 
afiect some vital issue, — as, for instance, the choice 
or removal of the janitor who will furnish the air 



WAYS OF IMMEDIATE ESCAPE. 99 

for her -children to breathe, — that the father would 
stay with the children while the mother went out to 
thus express her opinion. 

Then, indeed, would the climax be reached ! Then 
would that state of things so long foretold have 
come to pass : the husband takes care of the chil- 
dren^ while the wife goes out to vote ! Then would 
the funny artist snatch up his pencil, and the funny 
editor his quill. It has alwaj's been a mystery 
to me where the laugh came in on this joke. True, 
it is not his calling ; but what is there so very in- 
congruous in a father's " taking care" of his own 
cliildren? Fathers love their children, and will toil 
night and day for them, even for the very small 
ones. Is there any thing ridiculous, then, in their 
taking them in their arms, and overlooking their 
childish sports ? A man may take a lamb in his 
arms without losing an iota of his dignity, and 
without being caricatured in any one of our week- 
lies. It is quite time that these precious little 
human lambs ceased to be the subjects of scoffs and 
sneers. 

But we must pass on from this part of our sub- 
ject, and glance at one or two other ways of imme- 
diate escape from the present unsatisfactory state 
of things. See how quickly such escape might be 

9 



100 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

made I)}'' a truly enlightened family. First, they 
hold counsel together, men and women, all desiring 
the same object. Question, How shall "mother*' 
find time for culture? Say the male members, 
"Mother's work must be lessened, — must be: 
there is a necessit}^ in the case." — " But how? " 
— "Well, investigate. Begin with the cooking. 
Let's see what we can do without." Three cheers 
for our side ! When man begins to see what cook- 
ing he can do without, woman will begin to see her 
time for culture. Dinners are summoned to the bar, 
examined, and found guilt}' of too great variety and 
of too elaborate desserts. Sentence, less variet}^, 
and fruit for dessert instead of pies, or even pud- 
ding : exception filed here in favor of simple pud- 
ding when first course is scanty or lacking. Suppers 
summoned, tried, and found guilt}' of too great 
variety and too much richness ; sentenced to omit 
pies for life, and admonished by judge not to cling 
too closely to work-compelling cake. The time 
thus rescued from the usurper, Cooking, is handed 
over to "mother," the true heir, to have and to 
hold. 

Or, suppose the question to be one of health. 
" ' Mother ' works too hard. She will wear herself 
out." — " She doesn't complain." — " That makes 



WAYS OF IMMEDIATE ESCAPE. 101 

no difference. She must have help." — "Where 
is the money coming from to pay the help ? " — 
*'Make it; earn it ; dig for it; do without some- 
thing ; give up something ; sell something ; live on 
bread and water. Is there any thing that will weigh 
in the balance against 'mother's' life? We shall 
feel grief when she is worn out ; why not when she 
is wearing out ? We would make sacrifices to bring 
her back ; why not to keep her with us ? " The truth 
is, that heretofore the wrong things have been 
counterbalanced. Placing simple food in one scale, 
and dainties in the other, of course the latter out- 
weighs the former; but place "mother's" needs 
and " mother's " life in one scale, and dainties in 
the other, and then will the latter fly up out of sight, 
and never be heard from any more. Councils of 
this kind, we must remember, are not to become 
general until the requirements of " woman's mis- 
sion " are generall}'' understood, and until a great 
man}^ men are made aware that a great many 
women are killing themselves by hard work and 
care, and until academic professors perceive that it 
is wiser to give a j'oung woman the knowledge she 
will want to use than that which is given for cus- 
tom's sake. But how is this general enlightenment 
to be effected? I don't know, unless the lecturer 



102 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

makes these subjects the theme of his lecture, or 
the poet the burden of his verse, or the minister the 
text of his discourse. Not proper to be brought 
into the church ? Why not ? A great deal about 
heathen women is brought into the church. Are 
American women of less account than they ? Does 
not the condition of our women call for missionary 
effort? True, American wives do not sacrifice 
themselves for their deceased husbands, but we 
have seen that they are sacrificed. There is here no 
sacred river into which the mother hurls her new- 
born babe ; but it has been shown, that, because 
American mothers are left in ignorance, a large 
proportion of their children drop from their arms 
into the dark river of death. 

Should any object that such subjects are below 
the dignit}^ of the church, we might reply that the 
church is bound to help us for the reason that the 
present state of things is partly owing to her efforts. 
The ministers of the church in past times have 
labored to convince people that this life for its own 
sake is of little account ; that we were placed here, 
not to develop the faculties and enjoy the pleasures 
which pertain to this stage of our existence, but 
solely to prepare for another. They have taught 
that we sicken and die prematurely because God 



WAYS OF IMMEDIATE ESCAPE. 103 

wills it, not because we transgress his laws. To 
tliose suffering physically from such transgression 
they have said in effect, " Pra}^ God to relieve your 
pain, for he sent it upon you." 



104 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 



CHAPTER X. 

MEANS OF ESCAPE ALREADY IN OPERATION. 

nnHREE effective means by which the desired 
-^ change may be accomplished are, first, that 
women meet regularly for the purpose of discussing 
such matters as especially affect them and their 
mission ; second, that the}" have a paper for this 
same object ; third, that representative women from 
different sections of the country come together occa- 
sionall}", and compare views on these matters. Such 
means we already have in the " Woman's Club," 
the " Woman's Journal," and the '' Woman's Con- 
gress." 

The first of these institutions is not what the 
uninitiated, judging from its name, might suppose. 
The writer, though not a club-member, can affirm 
of her own knowledge, that at the weekly gatherings 
questions are discussed which have a direct bearing 
on the interests of the family and household. From 



MEANS OF ESCAPE IN OPERATION. 105 

these gatherings, members return to their homes 
strengthened, refreshed, enlightened. All teachers 
can testify that from teachers' conventions they go 
back to work with awakened interest, fresh zeal, 
and with newl3'-acquired ideas. The contact of mind 
with mind has invigorated them. They have all 
taken from each other, j'et none have been losers, 
but all have been gainers. Every school which lost 
its teacher for a season gained tenfold by that 
teacher's absence. So it is with the club meet- 
ings. Women leave their homes to consider how 
the standard of those homes maj^ be raised. I 
happened to be present once when the discussion 
was upon " The amount and kind of obedience to 
be exacted from children ; ' ' and I said to myself, 
Now, this seems the right thing exactly. How natu- 
ral, how sensible, for women to meet and confer on 
such subjects as this, each one bringing her per- 
plexities or her suggestions ; the old giving their 
experience, the 3'oung profiting thereby ! What bet- 
ter could mothers do for their childi^en than thus to 
meet occasionalh^ and hold counsel together ? 

Still people in general do not take this view of the 
case. People in general are satisfied if a mother is 
bodily present with her children, and do not trouble 
themselves as to her enlightenment. 



106 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

Look at the last Woman's Congress, side by side 
with three other large conventions held in this 
country not so very long ago, and compare its pur- 
poses with theirs. The questions which occupied 
the members of one of the three related chiefly to 
articles of belief, and to those particular articles of 
belief in which they all believed. It was stated 
beforehand, that the great object to be attained was 
unity, and that no subjects would come up which, by 
calling out opposing opinions, might mar the har- 
mony of the occasion. 

Another convention occupied much of its time in 
deciding whether those of the denomination who sit 
at communion with others of the denomination who 
have sat at communion with a person who has not 
been wholly immersed, shall be fellowshipped by the 
denomination. 

An enthusiastic member of still another conven- 
tion publishes a long and glowing account of its 
proceedings, in wljich account occurs the following 
curious paragraph : — 

" Dui'ing the discussions in convention, the 
presentation of petitions and memorials and drafts 
of canons, the reports of the committees on canons, 
the amendments and substitutes, the transit of 
canons back and forth between the two houses, and 



MEANS OF ESCAPE IN OPERATION, 107 

finally, the conference committee, the slowly devel- 
oping action of the convention was under such con- 
fusion and cloud, that it was and may yet be 
diflScult for many, especially those at a distance, to 
make up their mind as to what finally took place." 
The object of this paragraph was to account for 
some wrong impressions made by the published 
reports. 

I submit that what humanity wants to know is, 
how to live rightly, and that it is suflfering for this 
knowledge. It is not suflTering to know all about 
" altar cloths" and " eucharistic lights," and 
" colored chasubles" and " the use of the viretta in 
worship." It is not suflfering to know if certain 
persons can partake of the Lord's Supper with other 
certain persons who have partaken with other certain 
persons. It is not suflfering to know that a large 
number of individuals believe exactly alike, and 
exactly as did their ancestors. How are all these 
agreements and disageements to help a poor fellow 
who has inherited certain proclivities, and wishes 
to be rid of them, and that his children may over- 
master them? 

Humanity does want to know, right away, how to 
keep itself alive and well and doing well. It wants 
brought up for consideration the wrongs which 



108 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

oppress it, the evils which defile it, the crimes whicli 
degrade it ; to have their causes investigated, and 
their remedies suggested. This is live work ; and it 
is such work as this which occupied the attention oi 
the Woman's Congress. No uncertain sound there. 
Those " at a distance," those at the ver}^ antipodes, 
might " make up their mind " that its members were 
asking themselves, what have we, as wives and 
mothers, to do with these things ? While other con- 
ventions are "agreeing," and " fellowshipping," 
and wrangling over " altar cloths," and " virettas," 
the Woman's Congress considers matters which have 
an immediate practical bearing on the welfare of 
human beings. While the communitj" is working 
away at the surface, with its prisons, its police, its 
hangmen, its societies for the suppression of vice, 
its schools for reform, its homes for the fallen ( no 
doubt often with good results), the Woman's Con- 
gress strikes at the foundation, and by pointing out 
" The Influence of Literature upon Crime," and the 
telling effect of " Pre-natal Influences," suggests 
how vice may be prevented, character right-formed, 
and humanity kept from falling. It inquires, " How 
Jan Woman best oppose Intemperance ? " It con- 
siders those two vast underl3dng subjects, "The 
Education of Women," and "The Physicf^i '^(1uca« 



MEANS OF ESCAPE IN OPERATION. 109 

tion of our Girls ; ' ' while it by no means overlooks 
those unfortunates whom society sets apart, and 
labels "fallen women." 

In regard to our problem, if any light has been 
thrown, if " the word " has been guessed, I should 
say " the word " is " enlightenment," — enlighten- 
ment of the community as to the requirements of 
woman's mission, enlightenment of woman herself 
as a preparation for that mission. What say 3'ou, 
friends? Shall our women receive such enlighten- 
ment? and shall it come in to the finishing or sup- 
plementary part of their education (so called) ? 

True, this will cause innovations ; but is it there- 
fore objectionable? No one will call our present 
s^'stem of education a perfect one ; wh}', then, should 
there not be innovations? " Wh}-, indeed," asks a 
writer in " The Atlantic," " except that the training 
of their children is the last thing about which 
parents and communities will exert themselves to 
vigorous thought and independent action ? No more 
striking proof of the inertia of the human mind can 
be found," he says, "than the fact. . . that for 
man}^ generations the true philosoph}^ of teaching 
has had its prophets and apostles, and yet that sub- 
stantially we are training our children in the same 
old blundering way." The fault of this " old 



no A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

blundering way," it seems to me, is its one-sided- 
ness. It educates only the intellect. Is this the 
right way? Surely the moral nature is also edu- 
cable. Indeed, if the mind is trained to act 
energetically, so much more should the moral 
sense be trained to control the workings of that 
mind. Then, since the world, we hope, is out- 
growing battles, whj^ is it considered essential that 
we inform ourselves so particularl}^ so minutely, 
so statisticall}^ concerning battles fought so long, 
long, long ago? Does the process hasten on the 
time of beating swords into ploughshares? Sup- 
pose each generation, as it comes on to the stage, 
does inform itself thus minutel}^ : what, in the 
long-run, does humanitj^ gain thereb}^? 

But these considerations open up subjects too 
vast and too important to be even mentioned in 
these closing chapters. AYill not you who know 
the inevitable influence of the mother upon her 
children, — will 3"ou not see to it that some portion 
of the time devoted to her education is spent in 
preparing her for her life-work ? Can you think of 
au}^ surer w^ay than this by which good citizens 
may be raised up for our country? Wickedness 
abounds. It is omnipresent. Every day, — yes, 
twice a day, — the newspapers bring us tidings of 



MEANS OF ESCAPE IN OPERATION. Ill 

corruption, fraud, villany, not only in low places, but 
in high places ; in exceedingly high places. Crime 
is on the increase. Public officials, supported and 
trusted by the people, hesitate not to defraud the 
people. Individuals in good and regular standing 
socially and religiousl}', church-members, sabbath- 
school teachers, defraud their nearest friends. 

Nobody can tell whom to trust. If, then, neither 
church, nor state, nor social position, nor any out- 
side influence, has power to make men honest, 
where shall we look for such power ? We must look 
to an inside influence. The restraining power, in 
order to be efiective in all cases, must proceed from 
the character of the individual ; and the character 
of the individual is formed to a very great degree by 
early training ; and early training comes from — 
women. So here we are again down to our working 
gi'ound. 

Let us hope that innovations will be made. Let 
us hope that at no distant da}' it will be thought as 
important for a 3'oung person to be made a good 
member of society as to be able to cipher in the 
" rule of three," in " alligation medial " and " alli- 
gation alternate." A recent writer, a professor in the 
University of Pennsylvania, urges " the importance 
of incorporating into our public school S3^stems such 



112 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

studies and such training as will tend to educate 
men for their place in the body politic." He 
says, " A line of teaching which concerns matters of 
more importance to society than all the ordinary 
branches of knowledge put together is allowed to 
have no formal provision made for it." This writer 
recommends the stud}' of biographies. In Locke's 
system good principles were to be cared for first, 
intellectual activity next, and actual knowledge last 
of all. 

Suppose the young women of thirt}' years ago had 
been thoroughlj^ instructed in h3'gienic laws : would 
not the effects of such instruction be perceptible in 
our present health-rates and death-rates? Let us 
beo^in now to affect the health-rates and death-rates 
of thirty years hence. And it will do no harm to 
instruct young men also in such matters. Even 
while I am writing these pages, a State Board 
of Health report comes to me, in which it is 
shown b}^ facts and figures how our death-rates are 
affected by ignorance, — ignorancQ as exhibited in 
the locating, building, and ventilating of dwelling- 
houses, drainage, situation of wells, planting of 
trees, choice of food and cooking of the same, as 
well as in the management of children. Can any 
subjects comprised in any school course compare in 

10 



MEANS OF ESCAPE IN OPERATION. 113 

importance with these? For humanity's sake, let 
our young people take time enough from their geog- 
raphies and Latin dictionaries to learn how to keep 
themselves alive ! It is possible too, that, if the 
young women of thirty years ago had been 
enlightened on the subject of moral and mental 
training, our present crime rates might be less than 
the}' are, and dishonesty and dishonor in high places 
and in low places be less frequent. 

Mr. Whittier tells the story of a man in a certain 
town, who desired the removal of an old building 
— an almshouse, I think — from a certain locality. 
As the quickest way of accomplishing this, he gave 
a man a dollar a day on condition that this man 
should do nothing else but talk from morning to 
night with various people on the subject of having 
that building moved. And it was moved. The old 
building we have to move is made up of prejudices, 
ignorance, settled opinions, and firmly-established 
customs, and it is therefore quite time we were 
beginning our work. Remember the tremendous 
importance of our object. An Englishman, Lord 
Rosebury, in a recent address, insists on a special 
preparation for the hereditary rulers who sit in Par- 
liament ; and, if those who are to rule mind need 
this, how much more do the}^ need it who are to 
stamp mind, and give it its first direction ! 



114 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

Horace Mann shall close this chapter with one of 
his impressive sentences. Sa3^s this truly great 
man, " If we fasten our eyes upon the effects which 
education may throw forward into immortal desti- 
nies, it is then that we are awed, amazed, over- 
powered, by the thought that we have been placed 
in a sj^stem where the soul's eternal flight ma}^ be 
made higher or lower by those who plume its tender 
wings, and direct its early course. Such is the mag- 
nitude, the transcendence, of this subject.'* 



SUPPLEMENTARY. 115 



CHAPTER XL 



SUPPLEMENTARY. 



Q[OM«E persons have asked, after hearing or read- 
^^ ing the foregoing suggestions, " Do not men 
also work too much and read too little ? Is not the 
influence of fathers on their children to be consid- 
ered? Should not fathers be educated for their 
vocation?" To these questions there can be but 
one answer. Yes ! and the j-es cannot be too em- 
phatic. But the paper which formed the nucleus 
of these chapters was written by a woman at the 
request of women, to be read before a woman's 
club assembled to consider the question, " How 
shall the mother obtain culture?" The yqvj fact 
that such a question had suggested itself to them, 
shows that women feel the need of more than 
their present opportunities for culture. If men 
feel this need, there is nothing to prevent them 
from assembling to discuss their unsatisfactory 



116 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

condition, to devise ways of improving it, to 
consider their responsibilities, and to inquire how 
they shall best qualify themseh^es to fulfil the duties 
of their vocation. The writer is under the im- 
pression that men's clubs do not meet especially 
with a view to such discussions. 

The following paragraphs comprise the first part 
of a letter published in " The New York Tribune." 

"These letters will speak to the hearts of thousands of 
women all through the country, and particularly to the 
women " out West," as they have already to my own. 
This problem has been revolved in my mind again and 
again, but no clew has appeared by which to solve it; and 
1 have laid it down hopelessly, feeling that there is no 
alternative but to submit and carry the burden as long as 
strength endures, and seeing no outlook for the future but 
in a brief period of old age, when care and labor must come 
on younger shoulders. 

" I want to speak only of the condition of women with 
whom I am best acquainted, — the wives of farmers in this 
part of Illinois. Many instances I have known of women 
who received in the East an education in some cases supe- 
rior to that of their husbands, but a life of constant care and 
drudgery has caused them to lose, instead of gain in mental 
culture, while the husbands have grown away from them; 
and it is only in subjects of a lower nature that they have a 
common interest, A man, in his every-day intercourse with 
other men, and his business calls into all kinds of places and 
scenes, must be a fool not to receive new ideas, not to 
10* 



S UPPLEMENTAR Y. 117 

become more intelligent on many subjects. But what can 
be expected of the wife, almost always at home in the 
isolated farm-honse, in a sparsely settled community, and 
if poor and stniggling with debt, as many are, with no 
reading except one or two newspapers? If she had a library 
of books, it would make but little difference, for she has no 
tiipe to read them. All through the Western country there 
is an absolute dearth of women's "help." "A girl "can 
hardly be obtained for love or money. Girls in towns or 
cities will not go into the country, and country girls are too 
independent. If they have a father's house, they will not 
leave it for any length of time, as actual want is not known 
here in the country. Within a radius of five miles in every 
direction from my home, where I have lived eight years, 
I have never known or heard of a family or person suffer- 
ing for any thing to eat, drink, or wear; and have never 
had a call for help in that direction. A house-mother of 
my acquaintance, whose husband owns a "section" farm, 
suffers much from illness, and has a large family, yet for 
months has been without any help in her work but that of 
her little girls, — the oldest not over twelve, — simply because 
she could not get a servant. The farmers themselves are 
under less necessity to labor than in many other parts of the 
country. Farms are comparatively large, and produce large 
crops, and it pays them to hire • laborers. Many farmers 
work in the field very little, while the wife and mother does 
the housework not only for her own family, but for from one 
to three laborers. During the rush of crop raising and har- 
vesting, from April to August, she must be up at four in the 
morning, and she cannot have her supper until the farm 
work is all done ; and by the time her children are put to 
bed, the milk cared for, and dishes washed, it is nine o'clock 



118 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

or after. It is hard for a woman who is hungry for reading 
to see how much leisure even " hired men" have to read, — 
their winter and rainy days, their long noonings and even- 
ings, and odd bits of time, while she has comparatively 
none." 

It seems, then, that it is with women as with 
men : at the West too few workers for the work, at 
the East too little work for the workers. Now, in 
the case of the men, there is a regularly organized 
plan to bring the workers to the work. Laborers 
are taken from the East where they stand in each 
other's way, and carried to the West where their 
services are needed. Wh}" not have some arrange- 
ment of this kind for the women ? In the present 
condition of things, destitute women and girls con- 
gregate in our cities, and in dull seasons depend 
on charity for their dail}^ food. In Boston, during 
the last winter, this charitable feeding was reduced 
to a system, and, according to published reports, 
immense numbers were thus supplied with food. 
It seems a pity that women and girls should 
starve or live on charity in our cities, while so 
many families in the West are suffering for their 
help. Can there not be some concerted plan be- 
tween these widely separated sections of the country 
whereby at least a portion of our destitute ones 



SUPPLEMENTARY. 119 

can be conveyed to the "West, and there provided 
with comfortable homes ? 

By private letters received from "Tribune" 
readers living in different parts of the country, it 
appears that man}^ thoughtful people are consider- 
ing our problem, and devising ways of solving it. 
One of these letters says, " You sprinkle rose water 
where you should pour aquafortis. You say hus- 
bands ' donH know ' that their wives are over- 
worked. The truth is, the}^ don't care." The 
writer recommends that the laws be so altered 
as to make second marriages illegal, assuming 
that, if a man could have only one wife, he 
would take good care of that one. This is an un- 
pleasant \^ew of the case, and would not be pre- 
sented here, only that, from the earnest downright- 
ness of the letter, it seems probable that its writer 
speaks from knowledge, and represents a class, — a 
small one, let us hope. 

Three private letters, coming one from the 
South, one from the East, and one from the West, 
declare that woman's present state of invalidism 
and thraldom to labor is occasioned by the too fre- 
quent recurrence of the duties and exhaustive de- 
mands of maternity. The writers of the letters 
affirm, that, in these matters, women are often made 



120 A DOMESTIC PROBLEM. 

the slaves of sensual husbands, and earnestly en- 
treat that this shall be mentioned among the 
" causes of the present state of things.'* 

The only sure and lasting remedy for the above- 
mentioned evils, and others similar to them, is a 
wise education. When man is wisely educated, 
and not till then, will he have a proper considera- 
tion for woman. 



THE 



SOHOOLMASTEE'S TEUITK, 



CONTAINING 



PAPEKS ON HOME-LIFE IN TWEENIT. 



The papers here collected embod}^ observations 

made from actual life by a teacher residing in a 

countr}^ \illage. 

A. M. D. 



THE SCHOOLMASTEK'S TEUNK. 



I. 

THE SLAVES OF THE ROLLING-PIN. 

'P^IES again ! Always pies ! One, two, three, 
-*- four, this is the fifth time, within, say, ten days 
or a fortnight, that, to my knowledge, pies have 
stood in the way of better things. 

First, my hostess, Mrs. Fennel, could not leave to 
take a ride with me a few mornings ago, because 
*' we are entirely out of — pies.'* Mrs. Fennel, 
poor woman, is far from well, and what with husband, 
grown-up boys, and two small children, not to 
mention myself as boarder, she has a large family 
to cook for, and only her daughter Martha to help 
do Ihe work. That breezy morning-ride would have 
raised her spirits ; it would have put new life into 
her: but — pies. (This is one time.) Then IVIiss 
Martha, who is fond of reading, declined the loan 

123 



124 



THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 



of my library-book the other day on account of hav- 
ing to help her mother make — pies. (Two times.) 
Last evening she could not run up on the hill 
to see the sun set, because they were trying to get 
the meat and apple ready over night for — pies. 
(Three times.) When poor Mrs. Fennel was taken 
off her work the other day by one of her frequent 




ill-tm-ns, Mrs. Melendy came in with offers of 
assistance. 

"Now I can stay just two hours by the clock," 
said Mrs. Melendy in her sprightly way ; " and what 
shall I take hold of first ? Shall I tidy up the room, 
read to you, bathe your head, make you some good 
gruel? Or. else, shall I take hold of the mending, 
or see to the dinner, or what?" 



THE SLAVES OF THE ROLLING-PIN. ] 25 

Mrs. Fennel raised her languid lids, and faintly? 
murmured, '' Out of pies." 

*'Dear me!" cried breezy Mrs. Melendy, ''I 
know what that feeling is well enough ; and 'tis a 
dreadful feeling ! Why, I should no more dare to 
set out a meal's victuals without pie than I should 
dare to fly! For m}^ husband, he must have his 
piece o' pie to top off with, whatever's on the table." 
And the sympathizing sister bared her willing arms, 
and wrestled womanfull}' with the rolling-pin, I 
know not how long. 

The fifth time was this morning. While sitting 
in the room adjoining the kitchen, the doors being 
open between, I heard Martha ask her mother why 
they could not take a magazine. "I do long for 
something to read ! " said she ; " and all we have is 
just one newspaper a week." 

"Oh! we couldn't get much reading- time," said 
Mrs. Fennel. " If 'tisn't one thing, 'tis another, 
and sometimes both. There's your father, now, 
coming with the raisins. These pies will take about 
all tlie forenoon." Miss Martha afterward spoke 
to her father about the magazine. 

" We can't afford to spend money on readin'," 
he answered, in his usual drawling monotone : 
'* costs a sight to live. Now, if we didn't raise 



126 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

oar own pork, we should be hard pushed to git 
short' nin' for our pies." 

Such constant reiteration had made me desperate. 
I strode to the doorway. ' ' And why must we have 
pies 9" 1 demanded in tones of smothered indigna- 
tion. " Why not bread and butter, with fruits or 
sauce, instead? Why not drop pies out of the work 
altogether? Yes, drop them out of the world." 
Miss Martha was the first to recover from the shock 
of this startling proposition. " Our men-folks 
couldn't get along without pies, Mr. McKimber," 
she said. 

*' Pie-crust does make a slave of a woman, 
though," said Mrs. Fennel. *' There's nothin' 
harder than standin' on your feet all the forenoon, 
roUin' of it out." 

" Denno 'bout doin' without pie," drawled Mr. 
Fennel. ^' 'Pears if bread'n sarse'd be a mighty 
poor show for somethin' to eat." 

*' 'Twould take off the heft of the cookin'," said 
Mrs. Fennel thoughtfully; "but" (with a sigh) 
"you couldn't satisfy the men-foUis." 

I rushed to my chamber in despair. Pie, then, 
is one of the household gods in Tweenit. But 
what can I do about it? Something must be done. 
Suppose I write an " Appeal to Women," and read 



THE SLAVES OF THE ROLLING-PIN. 127 

it at the sewing-circle, pretending it was taken 
from a newspaper published in — well, in \laska, 
or Australia, or the Orkney Islands. We gentle- 
men are expected to help along the entertainment 
in some way. 

Hark, now, to the music of the rolling-pin sound- 
ing from below ! That music shall inspire my 

"appeal. 

"My dear friends, this is an age of inquiry. 
Can any one tell who first imprisoned our luscious 
finiits in a paste of grease and flour, baptized the 
thing with fire, and named it pie ? And why is 
this pie a necessity? That is what confounds me. 
Mothers of families, hard pressed with work, con- 
sume time and strength in endless struggles with 
the rolling-pin. Fathers of families lengthen their 
bills to shorten their pies. And all this is to 
what end? The destruction of health. Every 
stroke on the board demands strength which is 
worse than thrown awa}^ Ever}' flake of pastry 
is so much food which were better left uneaten. 
And as for the time consumed in this kind of labor, 
who shall count the hours which are daily rolled 
awa}', and chiefl}' by overburdened women, who 
complain of ' no time ' and ' no constitution ' ? 



128 THE SCHOOLMASTER- S TRUNK. • 

»'One Saturday forenoon I stood on the hill 
which commands a view of the village. It was 
'baking -day/ Being a clairvoyant, I looked 
througli the roofs of the houses, and saw in every 
kitchen a weary woman, ' standin' on her feet,' roll- 
ing, rolling, rolling. Close around some stood their 
own little children, tugging at their skirts, pleading 
for that time and attention which rightfully be- 
longed to them. One frail, delicate woman was 
actually obliged to lie down and rest twice before 
her task was ended. Another, the mother of an 
infant not many months old, accomplished hers with 
one foot on the cradle-rocker. 

"We read of despotic countries where galley- 
slaves were chained to the oar. They, however, 
after serving their time, w^ent free. Alas for poor 
woman chained to the rolling-pin ! Her sentence 
is for life. 

'•'• We read, too, in ancient story of powerful genii, 
whose control over their slaves was absolute ; but 
this terrible genius of the household exacts from its 
slaves an equally prompt obedience. Is there one 
among them who dares assert her freedom? 

" No : their doom is inevitable. Woman is fore- 
ordained to roll her life away. Is there no escape ? 
No escape The rolling-board is planted squarely 



THE SLAVES OF THE ROLLING-PIN. 129 

in the path of every little daughter ; and sooner or 
later, if her life be spared, she will walk up to it. 
May we not call it an altar upon which human 
sacrifices are performed daily? 

"I observed, on the morning just mentioned, 
Ihat, in the intervals of pastry-making, the genius 
of the long-handled spoon took control, demanding 
its customary tribute of eggs, sugar, fat, spices, 
&c., demanding, also, the usual outlay of time and 
strength which goes to the compounding of cakes ; 
and thus, with rolling, beating, and stirring, the 
forenoon wore away, leaving in each house its 
accumulation of unwholesome food. 

" You do know, madam, that plain living is 
better for your children? You would like more 
time to devote to them, or for books, or for recrea- 
tion: Then, pray, why not change all this? Is 
palate forever to rank above brain? Change your 
creed. Say, ' I believe in health, in books, in out- 
doors.' Why don't you rise^ slaves? Now is your 
time. Now, when slaves everywhere are demanding 
their freedom, demand yours. 

'* Company 9 Thanks for teaching me that word- 
The kind hospitality of this social little village of 
Tweenit enables me to be ' company ' m3'self 
very frequently. And I am aware tJiat iruch time 



130 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

is spent in the preparation of viands to set before 
me, which, for variety and richness, could not be 
excelled. Shall I add, that whenever, at the boun- 
tifully-spread tea-tables, I have attempted to start 
a rational conversation, the attempt usually has 
been a failure? Books, public men, public meas- 
ures, new ideas, new inventions, new discoveries, 
what is doing for the elevation of women, — on none 
of these subjects had my entertainers a word to 
offer. Their talk was, almost without exception, 
trivial, not to say gossipy. 

" Therefore, as a member of that institution, 
which, as everybody says, ' makes a sight of work,' 
namely, ' compan}',' I protest. I petition for less 
variety in food, and more culture. And 3'our peti- 
tioner further prays, that some of the spices and 
good things be left out in cooking, and put into the 
conversation. 

" But the ' men-folks ' ? Ah, to be sm-e ! Per- 
haps, after all, it is they who need an appeal " 



A WORD TO THE ''MEN FOLKS:' 131 



n. 

A WORD TO THE "MEN-FOLKS." 

""YTTHAT! do without cake entirely?" cries 
' ' Mr. Livewell in alarm. B}^ no means, 
sir ! Poor human nature craves something sweet. 
The trouble lies in making palate king. In many 
families this is done at terrible cost on the part of 
the woman. I say terrible, because human sacri- 
fice, in w^hatever shape, is terrible. And when a 
woman uses herself up in cooking, and, as a conse- 
quence, dies, or half-dies, what is that but human 
sacrifice ? 

I'; was a remark made by Mrs. Melendy which 
first called \\\y attention to this subject. I had 
been sajing something complimentary of her very 
interesting little family. 

"Ah, yes! Mr. McKimber," she answered, "if 
I onl}^ knew how to bring them up as they ought to 
be brought up ! " 

I suggested that children need, more than any 
thing, a mother's time and attention. 



132 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

*' But that's just what they can't have," said she ; 
" for, to tell the truth, the three meals take about 
all day, so I have to turn off the children." 

Mrs. Melendy is the woman whose husband 
" always wants his piece o' pie to top off with." 

I had frequently heard that remark in regard to 
the "three meals," — heard it unconcernedly, as 
relating to a subject in which I had no interest. 
But when it was repeated that da}- by Mrs. Melen- 
dy, and in that connection, I was suddenly awak- 
ened to its full meaning ; and the idea occurred to 
me that woman might not have been created mainly 
for the purpose of getting three meals a day. K 
she were, thought I, what a waste ! for, certainly, 
a mere meal-getter might have been fashioned out 
of cheaper material. 

I am a curious person for following up an}'' sub- 
ject to which my attention has been particularly 
directed ; and, in following up this sul>ject, I have 
observed closely what goes on daily under the name 
of housework; and I find it to be a never-ending 
succession of steps. Why, such an everlasting 
treadmill would wear out a strong man ! Not only 
a tread-mill, but a hand-mill, and a head-mill : for 
hands must keep time with the feet ; rmd, as to the 
head, 1 have often heard Mrs. Fennel tell Martha 



A WORD TO TEE ''MEN-FOLKS.'' 133 

Bhe must keep her mind on her work. And, truly, 
the calculating and contriving demanded by each 
day's operations require some mind. 

Now, I had the idea, before I was awakened 
by Mrs. Melendy's remark, that woman's work was 
not of much account, — just a simple matter of 
*' puttering" about the house. The tempting food 
which Mrs. Fennel serves up daily stood for a very 
small part of the labor which it actually represents. 
And, but for that remark, I might have gone on 
eating the delicacies spread before me with no more 
sense of their cost than if they grew on trees, 
and were shaken down at meal- times. Since my 
eyes have been opened, however, those delicacies 
taste too strong of the toil to be relishable ; for I 
see that the rows of pies on the buttery shelves, the 
mounds of cake, the stacks of doughnuts, do not 
come there bj^ any magical " sleight o' hand," but 
are w^rought out of the very life of poor Mrs. Fen- 
nel, — literall}', of her ver}^ life. This is not iu 
overstatement, since it is plain to be seen that ea(;h 
day's labor makes demands which her strength is 
unable to meet. I have observed the languid v^slj in 
which she drags herself about the house, now and then 
dropping upon a chair ; have noted, at times, — at 
'• hurried " times, — the worn, weary, " all- gone " ex- 



134 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

pression of her face ; and have heard her take, oh ! 
very often, those "long breaths," which are sure 
signs of a wearing-out. 

Yes, the poor woman is killing herself with over- 
FTork. And when she rests, at last, beneath the 
turf, people will speak of the mj^sterious Providence 
which removed a wife and mother in the midst of 
her usefulness. 

It is about time, one would think, to put a stop 
to this woman-killing. A harsh phrase ? It is not 
more harsh than the truth ; for, if lightening labor 
will prolong life, insisting upon unnecessarj'- labor 
is not far removed from that crime. And this 
unnecessary labor is insisted upon in one way or 
another. 

For instance, I have Mrs. Fennel's own word for 
it, that pies are ' ' the heft of the cooking ; " have 
heard her speak of rolling out pastry until she was 
"ready to drop," of beating cake until her arms 
" hadn't one mite of strength left in them." Yet, to 
any suggestion that these and other superfluities be 
omitted, the answer has invariably been, that " the 
men-folks wouldn't be satisfied without them." 

Mr. Fennel is a very good man ; and the boys — 
young men of eighteen and twenty — are very good 
boys. If the direct question were asked Mr. Fen- 



A WORD TO TEE ''MEN-FOLKS.' 



135 



nel, which he most values, his wife's life, or the nice 
things she prepares for the table, he would answer 
with horror, if he answered at all, tlie former. In 
realit3% however, he answers the latter. It is the 
same with the boys. The men-folks can't eat cold 
bread ; therefore bisuits are rolled out, cut out, 
and baked, both morning and night ; the men-folks 
make dependence on their cake ; the men-folks must 
have their " piece o' pie to top otl' with ;" the men- 
folks like to have a pot of doughnuts to go to. 

ft 




Now, all these things ma}^ gratif}' the palate ; but 
the point is, are they worth the price that is paid for 
thtm? I confess that it fairly makes me shudder, 
sometimes, to see those strong men sit down at 
table, and, with appetites sharpened b\' out-of-door 



136 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

exercise, sweep off so unthinkingly and unthank- 
ingly the results of Mrs. Fennel's long and weary 
toil. Do they not taste something in those delica- 
cies? detect a flavoring that was never set down 
in any grocer's bill ? They probably do not. Long 
habit has so accustomed them to the flavor of this 
essence of life, this compound extract of backache, 
headache, exhaustion, prostration, palpitation, that 
they do not notice its presence. It would be well 
for them to do so, however ; for it is a terribly 
expensive article. 

Oh, no ! they don't taste any thing but what may 
be bought at the grocer's, or raised on the farm. If 
they did, if the cost of all these dainties were once 
made clear to our kind-hearted men-folks, the}' 
would not only be satisfie( 1 without them, but would 
beg Mrs. Fennel to stop cooking them ; for neither 
Mr. Fennel nor the boj^s are wanting in affection 
for her. Whenever, by overwork, she becomes 
alarmingly ill, they are ready to harness the horse, 
and go seven miles for the doctor at any time 
of day or night. Mr. Fennel never spends his 
money so freely as in medicine for his wife ; and 
the boys seldom come home from the pastures with- 
out bringing her mullein, or some kind of herb, to 
dry. " So thoughtful of them!" the dear woman 



A WORD TO THE ''MEN-FOLKS.'' 137 

remarks with moistened eyes, and cheeks faintly 
flushed. If they could onty be so thoughtful as to 
consider that rest is better for her than herbs ! 

All women are not as feeble as Mrs. Fennel? 
This is true ; j^et she represents a large class, and 
one which is rapidly increasing. Mothers of families 
calling themselves well and strong are hard to find. 
They too commonly either break down and die, or 
break down and live. Go into almost any town, any 
country village even, where pure air and other condi- 
tions of health abound, and mark in the sharpened, 
worn, pinched faces of its elderly women, the effects 
of overwork and unwholesome food. 

Work is necessary. I believe in it ; believe in 
eating too, and in eating what "tastes good," as 
the phrase is. But to a person of healthy appetite 
plain food "tastes good," and "topping off" is 
quite unnecessary. The ;Words ' ' topping off " ex- 
press the exact truth : implying, that, when the 
stomach is already full, something is put on the top. 
(B^'' the wa}', it is doing this, unless the something 
be very simple, which spoils the appetite for the 
next meal.) 

No : far be it from me to scorn the pleasures of 
the palate. I would b}' no means consider it 
wicked to eat, semi-occasionally, a bit of cake ; 



138 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

and there may be times in the year when even pie 
would be in order. But I protest against making 
these things the essentials ; against its being taken 
for granted, that in whatever press for time, — in sick- 
ness and in health, in strength and in weakness, in 
sorrow and in joy, — the table must be spread with 
this prescribed, though needless, variety of food. 

And, as it is the men-folks who are to "be 
satisfied," I appeal to them to "be satisfied" with 
that which requires less of woman's labor and of 
woman's life. 



CONCERNING COMMON THINGS. 139 



m. 

CONCERNING COMMON THINGS. 

A 1 THOEVER would be tranquil, let him noi, ia- 
' ' vestigate. Ever since I began inquiring into 
household affairs, my mind has been disturbed by a 
doubt — not quite a doubt ; call it an uneasiness 
— as to the mental superiority of the dominant sex. 
No, it cannot amount to positive doubting. That 
would be to fly in the face of facts. History 
proves that the greatest philosophers, the greatest 
artists, the greatest writers, the greatest thinkers, 
have been men. If woman has the ability to 
be as great in these directions, wh}' has she not 
been as great? There has certainly been time 
enough, — six thousand years at the lowest calcula- 
tion. 

> Well, then, since facts cannot be disputed, there 
can be no reasonable doubt upon this subject ; but — 
No, I won't say hut: I won't admit the possibility 
of a hut. I will only say that it is very puzzling 



140 TEE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

and very annoying to have one's daily observa- 
tions tend to undermine — not undermine, conflict 
with — one's belief. And it may happen, that, if a 
man watch too closely what goes on in doors, the 
idea will be suggested to him, that while he prides 
himself, very likety, on working well at one trade, a 
woman may work well at half a dozen, and not pride 
herself at all. 

Mr. Fennel is a carpenter. Mr. Melend}^ is a 
shoemaker. Each is master of one trade, and only 
one, and works at that all day. Mr. Fennel doesn't 
stop to mend his shoes. Mr. Melendy doesn't leave 
off pegging to make a new front-door. 

Mrs. Fennel is mistress of many trades. Mrs. 
Fennel is cook, tailoress, dressmaker, milliner, dyer, 
housemaid, doctor, and boy's capmaker ; also, at 
times, schoolmaster, lawj^er, and minister. For 
she hears the childi^en's lessons ; she adjusts their 
quarrels with the judgment of a judge • and she 
gives them sermons on morals which contain the 
gist of the whole matter. 

Of all these occupations, cooking, I obsei-ve, ranks 
the highest. That is sure of attention : the others 
take their chance. That is cut out of the whole 
cloth : the others get the odds and ends. I have 
observed also, in this connection, that the day in 



CONCERNING COMMON THINGS. 141 

doors resolves itself into three grand crises, called 
the three meals. It is surprising, it is really won- 
derful, the way these are brought about with every 
thing else going on beside. Indeed, this pry- 
ing into domestic affairs has made me surprised 
twice. First, at the amount of ph3'sical labor a 
woman has to perform ; second, that she can carry 
so many things on her mind at one time, or rather 
that her mind can act in so many directions at one 
time, and so quickly. This in-doors work seems 
commonplace enough ; to the fastidious, repugnant 
even. The same may be said of a mud-puddle. 
But dip up a dipperful of the mud, examine it 
closely, and 3^ou will find it teeming with life. So, 
examine an hourful of household work, and you 
will find it all alive with plans, contrivances, fore- 
thoughts, afterthoughts, happ}' thoughts, and count- 
less ti'ifling experiences, minute, it may be, but full 
ol' animation. The puddle is often set in commo- 
tion by a passing breeze, or b}^ a stone dropping 
in. Well, household work, too, has its breezes of 
hurry and flurry, besides its regular trade- winds, 
vvhich blow morning, noon, and night. And, if 
company unexpected isn't like the stone dropping 
:n, then what is it like? 
This is written, as the scientific people say, from 



142 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

observations taken on the spot. One day I spent 
an hour in watching Mrs. Fennel at her work, and an 
hour in watching Mr. Fennel at his. Being in a 
humorous as well as a scientific frame of mind, I 
l)la3'ed they were my specimens, and that the mattcjr 
under consideration reall}' did belong to some branch 
of science, unknown, of course, to a country school- 
master. 1 copy from my note-book : — 

*' Time, forenoon ; place, kitchen. 

''Fly, m}'' pencil, fly, like Mrs. Fennel's feet! 
Dinner is getting. It seems now as if every mo- 
ment were a crisis. What's that she is di'opping 
into hot water? Oh! turnip, sliced and peeled. 
Meat, pudding, potatoes, squash, beans, &c., re- 
quire, I see, diflferent lengths of time in the cooking. 
But they must be on the table at twelve o'clock, 
done just right ; some of them mashed, and all of 
them hot. Think of the calculation necessary to 
bring this about ! Meanwhile, in the intervals of 
lifting the pot-lid, Gussy's new suit is being '' cut 
out of old." And here, again, calculation — that is, 
mind — is required in cutting the cloth to advantage. 

*' Now Mrs. Fennel drops down to take a long 
breath. '• How much sugar must be put into this 
gooseberrj' pie? ' Martha asks. ' Rising one cupful ' 
Now a little girl comes of an errand : ' Mother wants 



CONCERNING COMMON THINGS. 



143 



you to write down how to make corn-starch gruel. 
Bobbj^s sick.' Mrs. Fennel writes directions. Now 
she is ironing. Why not wait till after dinner ? Oh, 
to be sure ! ' We must iron while we have a fire.* 
Now Gussy rushes in pell-mell to ask if when h(} 
carries Emma's gooseberries for her because she 




ashed him to, and then stubs his toe, and spills 'em, 
he ought to pick 'em up ? Now comes Emma, to say 
that Gussy tried to stub his toe, because she picked 
more gooseberries than he did when he went. Mrs. 
Fennel adjusts the quarrel ; preaches a sermon on 
envy, truth, and brotherly love ; informs Gussy what 
Malaga is famous for ; tries on his jacket (telling 
a story to make him stand still) ; catches up a rent 
in Emma's dress ; trades with a tin-peddler {mind 



144: THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

again) ; and through all this keeps her eye on the 
cook-stove ; drops things into hot water ; forks things 
out of hot water ; contrives places for saucepans, 
spiders ; runs round with a long-handled spoon, now 
with a knife, stirring, mashing, seasoning, tasting, 
till at last the moment arrives, and the men-folks 
arrive, and the grand crisis of the day is at its cli- 
max. But oh the flurr}^ and excitement of the last 
fifteen minutes ! the watching the clock, the look- 
ing in at the oven, the disappointment when things 
that should have risen have fallen ! As if this 
did not happen in life alwa^'s ! " 

The second hour gave less striking results. I 
found Mr. Fennel planing and grooving boards. His 
movements were distinguished by an entire calmness. 
There was no hurry, no excitement, to keep his mind 
on the snap ever}^ moment ; no grand climax for 
which boards, laths, shingles, nails, and clapboards 
must be got ready, let come what would. ''Too 
monotonous," the notes read, "to be of axij special 
interest." Had he dropped his plane for a trowel, 
the trowel for a paint-brush, paint-brush for a white- 
wash-brush, whitewash-brush for a hod of bricks, or 
been called upon to slack lime, mix paint, or to give 
directions for building a hen-house, the proceedings 
in the work-shop would no doubt have been as en- 



CONCERNING COMMON THINGS. 145 

tertaining as those in the kitchen. But, as far 
as hinderances were concerned, Mr. Fennel might 
have shoved that plane till doomsday, and with a 
temper smooth and even as his own boards. 

Since that time I have observed carefully other 
men and other women at their work ; and thus far my 
observations show that the average mother of a 
family requires and uses, in the performance of her 
daily duties, higher qualities of mind than does 
the average father of a family in the performance 
of his. Indeed, the more closel}^ I observe, the 
more amazed am I at the skill, tact, energy, insight, 
foresight, judgment, ability, genius, I may almost 
sa}^, so often displayed by the former. 

Well, and what then? Whj', then the question 
arises, *' Is woman, in the present condition of 
things, making the best use of all these high quali- 
ties ? " This question is not suggested by the fact 
of her giving herself up so entirely to her family. 
Oh, no ! most emphatically no. Children must have 
their mother. She belongs to them. The best a 
woman has, the best an arch-angel has, is none 
too good for the children. No : the question is 
suggested, partly by the "observations" I have 
been making, and parti}' by the recollection of Mrs. 
Melendys remark, that the ' ' three meals tako 



146 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

about all da}'." I am glad the sewing-circle meets 
here this week ; for, by attending to the conver- 
sation, I ma}' learn upon what subjects the minds 
of at least some fifteen or twenty women chiefly 
dwell. 

Another question, and a startling one too, is this • 
" If woman ever has a chance properly to develoj) 
these remarkable qualities of mind, what is going to 
become of the mental superiorit}^ of the dominant 



sex 



9" 



No more, no more ! My brain is confused, my 
soul disquieted within me. Whoever would be tran- 
quil, let him not investigate. 



THE SEWING-CIRCLE. 147 



THE SEWING-CIRCLE. — HOW IT WAS STARTED. 

r I iHE sewing-circle is in session in the adjoining 
room. It counts thirty- two members in all, 
— a goodty number for a population of only twenty- 
five or thirty families. The gathering to-day is 
not large ; a thunder-storm, and a circus at Elm- 
bridge, conspiring to keep many away. 

Mrs. Fennel has been telling me about this sew- 
ing-circle, and what it is trying, or rather is deter- 
mined, to do. The people of Tweenit village never 
had a meeting-house, but have held religious ser- 
vices in the schoolhouse. Now the women want to 
change all this. The}* want to build a chapel ; and 
for that purpose thej' mean to raise eight hundred 
dollars. 

' ' Eight hundred dollars ! " I exclaimed when 
Mrs. Fennel named the sum. " Wh}', there's 
hardly as much money in the place ! '* 

" That's just what the men told us," she answered ; 
" but we have faith." 



us TEE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

" I should think so," said I, " and works too." 

The men, it seems, threw cold water at the very 
beginning. 

•• " Where's all that money coming from ? " " Lum- 
ber high ! " " Labor high ! " " Saddle the place 
with debt!" "All nonsense! The old school- 
1 ouse is good enough ! " 

And the idea might have been quenched entirely, 
but for the burning zeal of two unmarried women, — 
" Nanny Joe" and " Nanny Moses," the daughters 
respectively of Mr. Joseph Payne and Mr. Moses 
Payne. They believed in a chapel. Thej^ preached 
this belief ; and man}' women were converted. The 
first convert was Miss Janet (Mr. William Me- 
lendy's wife, called "Miss Janet," to distinguish 
her from four other Mrs. Melendys). A meeting 
was called at her house. Before its close, the wild- 
est enthusiasm prevailed. The men's objections 
first were shown up to be scarecrows, then pelted 
down with ridicule. A sewing-circle was formed, 
which met once a week to sew "slop-work," and 
knit toes of stockings, — heels, too, I think. Oh, 
yes ! " heeled and toed : " that's the very eiq^ression. 
In other respects, the stockings were woven. The 
circle meant business. Some members met early 
in the morning, and worked all day. Ellinor Pa3me, 



THE SEWING-CIRCLE. 149 

who is emplo3'ecl in a tailor's shop at Piper's Mills, 
gave fifteen dollars of her own earnings. The enthu- 
siasm increased. Did any waver in the faith, influ- 
enced hy doubting men, Nanny Joe and Nanny 
Moses were ready to encourage and sustain. Nanny 
Joe and Nanny Moses were eloquent to persuade, 
ingenious to devise, skilful to contrive, and untiring 
in their labors. The}' fired the ambition of every 
woman in the place. They took that chapel (the 
chapel that was to be), and resolved it into its 
constituent parts, — its doors, windows, timbers, 
boards, nails even, and induced different individuals 
to be responsible for, say, a bundle of shingles, a 
window, a door, a stick of timber. Young and old 
caught the fever. Little girls A'ied with each other 
in earning panes of glass. Blooming maidens took 
upon their shoulders clapboards, laths, and kegs of 
nails. Matrons bore bravely their respective burdens 
of beams, rafters, and flooring ; and one cheerful old 
grandame, a steadfast knitter, smiled under the 
weight of the desk. 

Tlie little girls earned their money b}'^ running of 
errands, and picking huckleberries, and making 
patchwork cradle-quilts to sell. The older ones 
also picked huckleberries. When the season was 
at its height, the circle met in the pastures, and 



150 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRVNK. 

picked its pecks and its bushels. The berries were 
sent to Piper's Mills to be sold. If there were no 
other wa}' of sending them, Nanny Joe and Nanny 
Moses would take Mr. David's old red horse and go 
themselves. Mr. David Melendy committed himself 
at ihe very beginning, by a promise, which, though 
made in jest, was claimed in terrible earnest, as 
the old man found to his cost. 

" I'll agree to find horse and cart to cart all the 
work they'll get," said Mr. David sarcastically, 
when he first heard of the sewing-circle. His nar- 
row vision took in Tweenit village only, where each 
family generally does its own needlework. But 
there were eyes of a wider range, — far-seeing e3'es, 
which saw the "store" at Piper's Mills, whereat 
were left weekty, b}^ an agent from the city, huge 
bundles of slop-work and stocking-work for the 
sewers and knitters of that neighborhood. The 
sewing-circle obtained one of these bundles, and 
did its work so well that the agent not only 
promised it more bundles, but heaped bundles 
upon it ; so that Nanny Joe had frequent oppor- 
tunities of going to Mr. David, and saying, with 
a mischievous twinkle of her laughing black eyes, 
" More work to cart, Mr. Melendy ! " 

" Wal, wal, Nancy," that victim of his own jest 



THE SEWING-CIRCLE. 



ir>i 



would reply, "I'll stan' by my word. But you 
must help me ketch him." 

This is not so very difficult a task ; for that fat old 
horse of his would as soou be caught as not to be. 
Whether lie goes or stands still is all one to him, 
and nearl}- so to his driver. For calmness, for 
meekness, for sublime indifference, Mr. David's 







animal would take the medal. As may be imagined, 
he is a ver}' even horse to drive ; never allows him- 
self to be disturbed by outside influences, but jogs 
heavily on, with a flop and a plunge, unmoved by 
word or blow. 

" Speak of the ancient Nicholas," says the 
proverb, "and 3'ou will see his horns." And, in 
confirmation of it, behold this identical animal 



152 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

now approaching the house, shaking all ever at 
every flop, as if he were a horse of jell}'. Nanny 
Joe and Nanny Moses have just driven from Piper's 
Mills with some bundles of work. Nannj* Moses 
holds up a letter. Her fair, round face reminds 
me of Mrs. Fennel's favorite expression, " Smiling 
as a basket of cliips." Thirtj'-seven or thirty-eight 
they say is her age. The}" also say that she holds 
her own prettj^ well, which is saying a good deal ; 
for "her own" must weigh a hundred and fifty, at 
the least. Anybod}' might know those two would 
be intimate, the}' are so unlike. Nanny Joe is 
tall, slender ; has coal-black hair, coal-black eyes, 
a sallow complexion, and a chin unnecessarily long. 
She is pleasing and sprightly ; her friend, pleasing 
and quiet. 

Now joyful shouts uprise. There is money in the 
letter. Da^id Melendy, junior, has sent twenty 
dollars. These women leave no stone unturned. A 
few months ago, one of them, while on a visit to 
the city, called upon all Tweenit-born individuals 
there residing, and by appealing to their pride, 
their generosity, or their piety, as suited each case, 
obtained various sums to help the cause along. 
Tweenitites dwelling afar, amid Sitka's snows or 
California's golden sands, were appealed to through 



THE SEWING-CIRCLi:. 153 

the United-States mail ; and the letter just received 
is in answer to one of those appeals. It comes 
from Sitka ; and Nannj- Joe sa^-s the monej' is the 
profits arising from a rise in white bears. I was 
present the other daj- at the reading of a letter 
addressed to one Mr. Ezra Fennel, which must stir 
the depths of Mr. Ezra Fennel's heart, if not of his 
pocket-book. Men's mone}-, after all? Well, so is 
the gold in a gold-mine the gold-mine's gold. There 
is a great deal in knowing how to work a mine, and 
a great deal in knowing how to work a pocket-book. 
Now that the Sitka excitement is over, and the 
circle is subsiding into its natural state, I will take 
a few notes of the conversation. Thej^ ma}' throw 
some light on the subject of m}' present inquiries. 
Woman, I perceive, displays mind enough, both at 
home and abroad ; and now I want to find out upon 
what land of subjects her mind ordinarily dwells. 



154 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 



V. 

NOTES TAKEN AT THE SEWING-CIRCLE. 

"'VTOT as a listener, but as an investigator, inves- 
tigatiug the ver}* important subject of domes- 
tic affairs. 'Why not call it a scientific subject? 
Why not found a small science of my own here in 
this out-of-the-wa}^ place? The wise ones, the ones 
that own the big sciences, won't know an}' thing 
about it ; and, if the}^ do, they won't try to get mine 
away from me, having so many heavenly bodies, 
motive-powers, the forces of Nature, and, in fact, all 
created things, to attend to. 

My science has the forces of Nature in it too 
(human nature), and a motive-power. Tlieir motive 
powers act on machinery ; mine acts on human 
beings. It is the power by which woman " carries 
on the family ; " and I have seen for myself that 
there is a " power of it" used in some families ; also 
that it can be turned on^ as the factory people say, 
in other directions ; in that of chapel-building, for 



NOTES TAKEN AT THE SEWING-CIRCLE. 155 

instance. Give it n name ; call it mind-power ; for 
it is a combination of some of the highest men- 
tal qualities. Not fall}' developed, though ; oh, no ! 
scared}' begun to be developed yet. 

It being settled, then, that woman does possess 
this motive-power which belongs to my science, and 
which I haA'e named mind-pow-er, the question next 
arises, Is she doing all she can with it? Is none of 
it running to waste? What ideas, apart from house- 
hold affairs, take up her mind mostly? It was to 
obtain light on this last question, that I resolved to 
pa}^ attention to the talk at the sewing-circle. I 
wished to take the level, the mental level, of its 
members. Their conversation, by revealing what 
subjects chiefl}' occupy woman's thoughts, I believed, 
would give me some idea of how much she is accom- 
plishing vrith this mind-power of hers. 

True, Tweenit is only one village ; but it is, proba- 
bl}', much like other villages, and its sewing-circle 
like other sewing-circles. 

NOTES OF CONVERSATION. 

Aunt Jinny under the Hill. — Aunt Jinny Pi- 
per. Destitute old woman. Much given to rheu- 
matism. Mainl}' dependent on charit}'. Might make 
^ings go further. No calculation. Slack. Cloth 



15G 



THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 



given her not cut to advantage. Mouldy bread in her 
cupboard. Wore an apron forenoons good enough to 
wear afternoons. Used white pocket handkerchiefs : 
why not a square piece of old calico? Grandchild 
visits her too often. They say she makes her rheu- 
matism. 
Aunt Jinny down at the Crick. — Another Aunt 




Jinny Piper. Unmarried. Well off. Chests full of 
sheets and pillow-cases. Stingy. Got enough of 
every thing. Might clothe Aunt Jinny under the hill 
just as well as not. Ought to give land to build 
chapel on. Great for beating down prices. Paid 
man that spaded up her garden in pumpkins. Pump- 
kins overran two cents : told man he must bring back 
the sldns and insides for her pig, to make it all square. 



NOTES TAKEN AT THE SEWING-CIRCLE. 157 

Planning. — '' Forecasting" your work. L\dng 
awake nights to plan how next day's baking shall 
be worked in between the ironing or house-cleaning. 
Babies make it so 3'ou can't carry out your plans. 
Best not to take much notice of 3'oung children, 30 
thej^'ll bear " turning off." 

Mis Susan. — Mis Susan, wife of Mr. Henry 
Melendy. Lives in Pickerel Brook neighborhood. 
Has traded shawls with a peddler, and got a green 
one. Don't see what Mis Susan wants of a green 
shawl. Shouldn't think 'twould be becomins: to her. 
Her shawl was a beautiful shawl. Hadn't had it a 
great while. Guess she'll be sorry. Don't believe 
this one's all wool. 

Spring o' the Year. — Always want something 
sour in the spring o' the year. Man that brings 
ahmg "Archangel Bitters" to sell. Some say 
your gall runs into 3'our liver ; more likety yo\xr 
liver runs into your gall. How does anybody 
know ? Dread spring o' the 3'ear. Brings so much 
work ! Nothing to make pies of. Feel lost without 
pies. Vinegar mince-pies better'n no mince-pies. 
Soak your cracker in 3'our vinegar. Chop 3'our rai- 
sins. Makes beautiful pies, if you take pains. 
What my husband likes, and what my husband likes. 
Children ditto. My Ella B. won't touch molasses 



158 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

gingerbread. My Tomm}-'!! eat his weight in it. 
My Abner could sit up all night to eat sausage- 
meat. Sight o' work to make sausage-meat. Sight 
o' work to cook calf's head. Wants " good sweet 
pork" with it. Calves' brains make beautiful sauce. 
(Various recipes omitted.) 

Henry T. — Henr}^ T. Rogers. Young man. 
Began business in the city, and failed. Henr}^ T. 
alwaj^s held his head up high. Would have to come 
down. High-strung all that family were. They say 
he has bad habits. They say extravagance did it. 
They say (remainder in whispers) . 

Fred and Marion. — A pair of lovers. They 
say thev've broken off. They say she's written him 
a letter. They say he goes with another girl. 
Dreadful thing to Marion. Probably wear her into 
a consumption. They say she cries all night. 
'Com'se she'll send back his presents. Gold ring, 
worth how much ? Some of his presents worn out, 
Wonder how his father's property'll be divided. 

Fennel Payne and Adeline. — Fennel Payne, 
a young married man, distantly related to the Fen- 
nels and the Paynes. Has wife (Adeline) and 
small child. Adeline stuck up. Always was stuck 
up. Has strange notions. Both of 'em have strange 
notions. Spent five dollars for a picture. No great 



NOTES TAKEN AT THE SEW JNG-CIRCLE. 159 

things of a picture. Adeline sits down to read in 
the daytime. They go to take walks together. Go 
up on the hill and sit down sometimes. Fimny 
actions for married folks. 

How ARE TOU GOING TO HAVE TOUR DrESS 

MADE? — (Notes omitted. Reason, unfamiliarity 
with terms used.) 

The above is a small part of what was taken 
down in my note-book. 

Summary of observations made up to date in 
Tweenit Village : — 

First, that woman works hard physical!}', works 
very hard, and with not much respite. 

Second, that in '' carrying on the family" (this is 
a very common phrase here), — in "carrying on 
the family," and in various wa3's, she displaj's men- 
tal qualities of a high order. 

Third, that in working so hard, or in as far as 
she works so hard, merely to gratify' the palate, she is 
si^ending herself phj'sicall}^ for an unworthy end. 

Fourth, that her mind-power is running to waste 
in the same direction ; also in other directions, as 
is shown by the not very high tone of her conversa- 
tion. 



160 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 



VT. 

PEBBLES, OE DIAMONDS? 

T *' DREAMED a dream that was not aL a dream," 
-^ — dreamed of seeing a vast company of women, 
a multitude whom no man could number, all ear- 
nestly engaged in picking up — pebbles. Gems of 
priceless value \d,j scattered everywhere around ; but 
these were passed by unnoticed. "Foolish crea- 
tures ! Why don't thej^ leave the pebbles, and take 
the diamonds ? " I cried. 

There was a reason for my dreaming such a 
dream. I went to Piper's Mills the other day, to 
carry a bundle of " circle- work" for Nanny Joe. I 
took Mr. David's horse, and, while there, called on 
an acquaintance of mine, — Mrs. Royal. A couple 
of her neiglibors had dropped in to tea that after- 
noon ; and I was cordially invited to stay. 

" If 3'ou don't mind being the only gentleman," 
said Mrs. Roj^al. I replied most gallantly that it 
would give me the greatest pleasure to be placed in 



PEBBLES, OR DIAMONDS f 161 

SO enviable a minority ; all the while saying to my- 
self most " scientificall}'," Three neio specimens. 
Observe mental habits. Compare loith those of sew- 
ing-circle members. More light on domestic science. 
(My science has a name now.) 

I knew something of Mrs. Roj^al and her friends ; 
and that they differed in many respects from the 
majority of women. When, therefore, the tea-table 
talk began, I prepared to listen with interest, be- 
lieving that my new specimens, though of the 
same class as my Tweenit friends, — that is, neither 
poorer nor richer, — would prove to be a different 
species. 

The talk ran first on 

Tea-Roses. — So fragrant! so beautiful! Beau- 
tiful? Why, the beauty of even one half-opened 
bud was too much to take in. Article in the news- 
papers speaking of a beauty which makes " sense 
ache." Damask-roses going out of fashion. Wild 
I'oses in June reddening the wayside banks. Fra- 
grance of the sweet-brier, of the trailing arbutus. 
Flowers of spring, and their haunts. Pleasure of 
giving and of receiving flowers. 

Anecdotes of the Flowter-Missions in the 
CrriES. — Beautiful " mission," that of sending flo^ 



162 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

ers to the sick-beds of the poor. What is being 
done in various places for the poor, the ignorant, 
the degi'aded, and the friendless. It is beginning 
to be understood that we are all of one family. "Will 
the time ever come when this family feeling shall 
unite the nations ? 

The War-Spirit. — How shall it be done away? 
Influence of battle-pictures and battle-stories on the 
young. Some of the principal studies in schools and 
colleges are histories of battles. Pictures of military 
commanders in almost every house. How does all 
this affect the coming of the time when swords shall 
be beaten into ploughshares ? 

Importance of bringing Good Influences to 
BEAR ON Children. — Obedience from children. 
How to secure it, and at the same time encourage 
in them a proper degree of self-reliance. Best ways 
of developing the good that is in children. Educat- 
ing the heart as well as the head. Importance of 
physical health. When children, as they grow up, 
" go wrong," who is responsible? 

Allen Wentworth. — A young man who " went 
wrong." Dissipated. Inherited love of drink. Is 
it for us who inherited no such tendency to con- 
demn him? Mental and moral qualities handed 
down. Shall the "born good" despise the "born 



PEBBLES, OR DIAMONDS* 163 

bad " ? Allen Wentworth like character in a novel 
recently read by one of the company. Other novels 
and other characters spoken of. 

Books and Authors Generally. — Funny scenes 
recounted and laughed at. Heroes and heroines 
discussed. Beautiful passages quoted. 

Descriptions of Natural Scenery — Woods in 
spring. In fall. Shadows on the grass. Waving of 
corn and grain. Sunsets. Sunrises. 

We remained together for thi'ee or four hours, 
during which time I took notes, mentally, of the 
ideas expressed by different members of the company. 
I have put these notes upon paper in such a way as 
to show pretty nearly the course of the conversation, 
and how naturally one thing led to another. 

During my ride home I had ample opportunity, 
thanks to the peculiar temperament of Mr. David's 
horse, of comparing this conversation with that to 
which I had listened at the sewing-circle. And 
what a difference ! Why, that first one was so 
trivial, so aimless, with its never-ending gossip, I 
actually felt mj^self growing smaller while hearing it. 

And I could but compare the two waj's in which 
the two sets of talkers handled the same subjects. 
For instance, " spring o' the year" was mentioned 



164 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNIN. 

by the first merely as a time of house-cleaning, 
and a dearth of pie-material. The second talked of 
spring flowers and spring birds, of leaves bursting, 
and swamps awaking. Children were discussed by 
the first set, chieflj^, I think, with regard to what 
they liked to eat, or to whether, individually, they 
were or were not ' ' hard on their clothes ; " at any 
rate, there was no interchange of ideas concerning 
the right way of bringing them up. The second 
spoke of children as immortal beings, the training of 
whom called for a mother's best endeavors. Even 
in talking about their neighbors there was a difier- 
ence. Many members of the sewing-circle seemed 
rather to enjoy the downfall of Henry T., — some 
even to exult over it. Allen Wentworth, on the 
contrar}^, was tenderly spoken of by Mrs. Royal and 
her friends ; and the causes of his wrong-doing were 
thoughtfully considered. 

Then, again, there was a difference in the kinds 
of enjoyment with which the two sets of people en- 
joyed their conversations ; that of the last being 
infinitely higher. " Hovv'' charming ! " " Now, isn't 
that grand ! " " What a beautiful idea ! " they ex- 
claimed, now and then, as some heart-stirring pas- 
sage was repeated. The face of each listener or 
speaker would light up with pleasure ; and the eyes 



PEBBLES, OR DIAMONDS* 165 

would tell that her very soul was enjo3'ing itself. I 
could but remember, theu, Adeline, Fennel Payne's 
wife, who was blamed by some of the circle for " sit- 
ting down to read in the daytime ; " as if dajiiime 
were only made for rolling out pastry, sewing 
dresses, and the like. And when that tea-table talk 
ran on flowers and birds, woods, waters, glorious 
sunsets, and all the wonderful " out-doors," I again 
remembered Fennel Payne and Adeline, and how 
they had been ridiculed for " taking walks," and 
*' sitting down upon the hill." 

The ridicule, I thought, and still think, should be 
turned the other way. llhey are the ones to be ridi- 
culed, who shut themselves in behind lath and 
plaster, and there scrub, sew, and cook, cook, sew, 
and scrub, scarcely noticing the wondrous show 
which each season, in turn, prepares for them. 
Flowers may bloom, trees may wave, brooks may 
ripple, the whole earth blossom into beauty ; but 
they take no heed. It really does seem like slighting 
the gifts which God has bestowed. 

There is much to admire and to reverence in these 
women of Tweenit. They are, generally speaking, 
just as bright and just as good as my friends at 
Piper's Mills. The point is, that they do not, or 
the majority of them do not, like those friends of 



166 



THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 



mine, get the best out of life. Their energies are 
spent chiefly on phj^sical, not mental needs. Their 
talk is trivial. Nature is almost a dead loss to them. 
While others are enjo3'ing, through books, communion 
with the noblest minds, they are taken up with the 
petty concerns of their neighbors. While others seek 
for knowledge worth the knowing, they are satisfied 




to learn that some "Mis Susan" or other has 
" swapped shawls." And what is true of Tweenit is 
pretty lilvcly to be true of other places. Then there 
is another class, not 3'et considered, the butterfly 
class, who give their attention chiefly to plumage. 
Ah, there must be a vast companj' of women, a 
multitude whom no man can number, wlio pick up 
pebbles, and leave the diamonds ! 

How is it with the " men-folks," in this respect? 



KINDLING - WOOD. 167 



vn. 

KENDLING-WOOD. 

" T" ISTENERS never hear any good of them- 
-^^ selves." It is really unfair, however, to rank 
myself in so unworthy a class. No mean listener I, 
but an earnest inquirer, seeking light on any and 
every branch of domestic science. 

Votaries of the great sciences, it is said, while 
pursuing their studies with a view to some particular 
facts or truths, often stumble upon others which are 
quite as important. And in like manner a few days 
since, while continuing my observations on the men- 
tal status of the women of Tweenit \illage, did I 
stumble upon some facts in regard to the opposite 
sex, which are really worth attending to, and which, 
at the time, reminded me of the proverb about 
listeners ; for I had the mortification — it was one 
day when Mrs. Melendy and a few of the neighbors 
dropped into help Mrs. Fennel quilt — of hearing 
man discussed in his capacity of light-wood provider. 



168 TBE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

"Men-folks" as kindling- splitters ! Are hus- 
bands, sons, and brothers read}" for the question? 
Have they clear consciences on this point? How 
many can fearlessly invoke the spirit of free inquiry ? 

"And now you're married, you must be good, 
And keep your wife in kindling-wood" 

runs the old rhyme. A wise injunction, but one 
not universally obeyed ; that is, if the husbands of 
Tweenit are representative men in this respect. 
The heart-rending experiences which were related 
that day! — the anxieties, perplexities, calamities, 
agonies ! all of which might have been averted by 
" light wood," as some of them call it. 

One sufferer took a " sight o' pains" with her cake, 
*' separated" the eggs, "braided" the sugar and 
butter; but — it fell. Green pine was its ruin. 
Miss Janet's dumplings " riz right up, light as a 
feather, the first of it, but came out soggy ; and all 
for lack of a little flash under the pot." Another 
" had out-of-town company come unexpected one 
day ; and, because there was no light wood on hand 
to start up a fire in the front-room, they had to sit 
right down in the kitchen, and see every thing that 
was going on." Mrs. Melendy's (Mar^- Melendy's) 
Dicky was taken ill in the night ; and there was an 



KINDLING-WOOD. 169 

agonizing delay in steeping the " seeny," on account 
of Mr. Melendj^'s having forgotten to " split the 
kindling over night." 

And so on, and so on. Men were alwaj's apt to 
forget the kindling, Mrs. Melendy said, but always 
expected their dinner, whatever ; and expected light 
victuals from green pine-wood ! Light wood made 
heavy wood go better. Men didn't understand 
how tried a woman was with worrying over her fire, 
and with not having things convenient. 

Here the talk diverged, and ran upon things con- 
venient that each would like to have. One wanted 
a slide-door cut through into the butter}-, to save 
running all the way round with the dishes ; another, 
an oil-carpet, to save washing floor ; another, netting 
in every window and outside door, to save " fighting 
flies ; " another, stationary tubs, with pipes to let the 
water in and out, such heavy work, lifting tubs ! 
another would have a washer and wringer ; 
another, water let into her sink ; and still another 
wanted her sink-room floor raised up level with the 
kitchen, it made her back ache so to keep stepping 
up and down all the time ! 

And, from things convenient, they went to things 
pleasant, that "'twould be so nice to have!" 
Among these were mentioned canarj'-birds, a me- 



170 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

k)deon, a magazine, Madame Demorest's Monthly, a 
set of handsome furniture, lots of pictures, a window 
built out for keeping plants through the winter, a 
batljing-ioom, a set of furs, a whole barrel of lem- 
ons and oranges, a lavender-colored poplin dress ; 
and one of the company would like to take a little 
journey. 

I observed that these conveniences and pleasures 
were spoken of in a jesting, almost sarcastic tone, 
as if the likelihood of obtaining them were about 
equal to that of obtaining the crown-jewels of Eng- 
land. In regard to the first, the conveniences, 
" My husband can't afford it," was a phrase used so 
often, as to set me to thinking, and that quite seri- 
ousty. These domestic phrases all have a bearing 
on my present studies. 

'' Can't afford it! " Now, it is a question well 
worth considering, what are the things to be afforded. 

In the first place, what is our most precious pos- 
session, the best worth ha^4ng, the best worth sav- 
ing? Wh}^, life, to be sure! "All that a man 
hath will he give for his life." '* Any thing to save 
life " is a remark frequently heard. 

The next point that I wish to make is, that a wo- 
man who overworks sacrifices her life. I have heard 
women speak of being so tu-ed the}' could not sleep. 



KINDLING-WOOD. Ill 

but lay all night with "nerves a-trembling," and 
rose in the morning unrefreshed. Now, no 
huroan being can live long in such a condition as 
that. Well, then, if overwork kills, whatever saves 
work saves life. Life is the most precious posses- 
sion : therefore, money spent in saving work is 
money well spent ; and the answer to our question 
is, that conveniences are the things to be afforded. 

But men, that is, many men, do not consider the 
subject in this light. Apparently, those women 
were right in saying that a man ' ' don't understand " 
how "tried" a woman is with not having things 
convenient. Apparentl}', men "don't understand" 
that such words as " backache," " headache," " ner- 
vous," " trembling," mean wearing out. 

I recollect several cases' in which a husband let 
himself be importuned for some " convenience," 
week after week, and granted it at last with the 
bearing of a person doing an inestimable favor ; as 
if he were an outside party, having no interest in the 
affair at all. X believe, that if Mr. Fennel should 
provide Mrs. Fennel with "stationary tubs, with 
pipes to let the water in and out," — tubs, mind, 
in which to wash his own clothes, — he would 
consider himself entitled to her everlasting grati- 
tude. At any rate, I see that whenever a wash- 



172 



THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 



erwoman is hired, the money to pay her comes 
hard, as hard as lifting the tubs does to Mrs. Fen- 
nel and Martha. 

I have a friend, who, after his wife really had been 
injured by bringing water from a well, did at last, 
by reason of her importunit}', put a pump in the sink. 
And, ever since that great job was accomplished, 




whenever she asks for any thing which can possibly 
be done without, " that pump " serves as an excuse 
for refusing. Yes, and probably " that pump" will 
be made to tlu-ow cold water on dress, carpet, 
magazine, or melodeon for man}^ a year to come. 

Now, m}^ friend was interested in "that pump" 
just as much as his wife, only she never had allowed 



KINDLING-WOOD. 173 

him to find it out. If, when the pailful he brought 
in the morning — and which he " didn't understand" 
why it should not last all day — was used up, if then 
she had let the dinner stop cooking, why, that would 
have made him " understand." But, instead of 
doing this, she went to the well herself, knowing 
that he would " expect his dinner, whatever," to 
quote Mrs. Melendy. 

And observation has shown me that the majority 
of men, both in Tweenit and out of Tweenit, expect 
a great deal of women "whatever." They expect 
a woman will always be good-natured ; will keep the 
whole house in order ; will let nothing be wasted ; 
will bear to be found fault with ; will never find 
fault ; will have the children look neat ; will cook 
three meals a day ; will always have light bread ; 
will wash and iron, make and mend, entertain com- 
pany, and, if possible, get along without hired help. 
Yet they do not, as a general thing, exert them- 
selves overmuch to provide her with conveniences, 
still less with pleasures. Really, this is something 
like " expecting light victuals from green pine- 
wood " ! 

And, now I think of it, I wonder if there be not 
in the lives of some women too much ' ' green- 
pine;" if some husbands don't "forget the kin- 



174 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK 

riling " all the way tkrough. Mrs. Melendy said that 
"light wood" would make the heavy wood go 
better. I wonder if a little ' ' light wood " now and 
then, in the shape of a pleasure-trip, or of books, 
music, conveniences, sets of furs, and pretty things 
in the house, or even of an appreciative or com- 
mendatory word, would not make woman's heavy 
burden of work go better. 



MR. MCKIMBER RISES TO EXPLAIN. 175 



vni. 

ME. MCKIMBEK RISES TO EXPLAIN". 

"\7~ES, there is too much " green pine " in the lives 
of some women ; but then, on the other hand, 
there is equally too much ' ' light wood " in the lives 
of others. Mrs. Fennel remarked, in the course of 
the kindling conversation, that sometimes her wood- 
pile would be all "logs and sog," and next thing 
'twould be all " light stuff," and that what jow. want 
is to have both together. You want good solid wood 
to keep the fire agoing ; and you want dry pine to 
make a flash. I gathered from the talk, however, 
that this ideal wood-pile is seldom found in Tweenit. 
" If they could all be shaken up together," said Mrs. 
Melendy, meaning wood-piles, " they would all come 
out about riglit." And I suppose it is somewhat so 
with tne lives of women. Some are mostly " gi'een 
pine ; " and some are mostly " light stuff:" if they 
all could be shaken up together, they all would come 
out about right. 



176 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

No concern of mine? Why do I interest myself 
so much in woman's life and woman's work ? Attend 
to my own affairs? "Why, that is just what I am 
doing. I have discovered from m}^ late course of 
reading that woman is my " affair." Am I not, as 
one of the dominant sex, placed in authority over 
her ? Are not her interests in m}^ keeping ? Have 
I not, with others like me, to make the laws which 
govern her ? and to see that she obeys them ? and to 
punish her, if she does not ? and to regulate the taxes 
on her propert}- ? and to say what studies she may 
pursue, and what profession, if an}^, she may adopt? 

And, more than all this, I have, to some degree, 
the care of her conscience. For instance, if she be 
doubtful as to the wrongfulness of her rising to speak 
in prayer-meeting, or in the pulpit, or on the plat- 
form, it is m}^ province to decide for her. And, as 
she is intellectuall}'' unable to inteipret what the 
Scriptures have to say on this point, it is my clearer 
head, as one of the clearer heads of the dominant 
sex, which must bring out the meaning, and place it 
where she can see it. And if, after being thus mor- 
ally and intellectual^ enlightened, the Spirit move 
her so strongly, that she must rise and speak, then 
I, with others in authority, must compel h€,r to 
silence. Woman? She doesn't know what is best 



MR. MCKIMBER RISES TO EXPLAIN. Ill 

for herself. She doesn't know, in all cases, right 
from wrong. Fortunately, she has in man an un- 
erring guide. 

My own affairs indeed ! It is the affair of all in 
authority, I should think, to acquaint themselves 
with the condition of their subjects, in order to 
legislate wisely, and above all justly. Some of those 
old Eastern rulers, I believe, used to go among their 
people in disguise, for this very purpose. Well, 
so am I a ruler in disguise, acquainting mj^self 
with the condition of those over whom I am 
set in authority ; and my disguise is the robe of 
indifference. 

And besides all this, besides being spiritual ad- 
viser, instructor, and ruler, I maj^ (though the idea 
is amusing, and its fulfilment by no means prob- 
able), — I maj', it is not impossible, be a husband 
also. And my wife may ask me a question. She 
will, if she is good ; for, if there be one single plain 
text of Scripture, it is that which bids a woman, if 
she wants to know any thing, ask her husband at 
liome. And I, for one, mean to take some notice 
of women, so as to find out beforehand what manner 
of questions a wife will be likely to ask, lest, not 
having my answers ready, I be brought to shame. 
By the way, does not educating women at all rather 



178 



THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 



" go agin that text o' JScripter," to use Mr. David's 
expression ? 

Now comes still another consideration, and a 
very serious one. It is certainly my business to 
see that woman is fitted for the training of chil- 
dren because, in this republican country, women's 




sons will all help to rule the land. Princes of roj^al 
households, it is well known, are cared for from 
their births with the utmost solicitude. Here every 
family is a roj^al hous*ehold, and every boy is a 
prince. Every girl is not a princess ; but she may 
become the mother of a prince. 

Now, who has the charge of all these royal chil- 



MR. MCKIMBER RISES TO EXPLAIN. 179 

dren at the time when their characters are forming ? 
Who gives the fii'st direction to the minds of those 
who will in time control the affairs of our country ? 
Woman. And it is my business as an American 
citizen to learn what are her qualifications for an 
office of such responsibility. 

It was this last consideration which induced me 
to listen so attentively to my friends at Piper's 
Mills, and to m}'' friends at the sewing-circle, when 
the talk ran upon children ; for it bore directly on 
a theory of mine. I suppose every scientist has a 
theory- connected with his science. M}^ theory 
connected with mj^ science is this : that a mother's 
chief duty is the taking care of her children. I 
believe that she should prepare herself solemnly for 
this duty, and that she should ha^'e ev^}^ possible 
facility for its performance. 

How came I b^' this theory ? I came by it through 
the newspapers. I never took up one that did not 
have news to tell of dishonest clerks, corrupt 
officials, of drunkenness, theft, and murder. And 
I would say to myself, "Oh, how much badness 
there is in this dear country ! And how do so many 
people become so bad ? " 

And one day I went, with my theory upon me, 
into Mrs. Fennel's kitchen, where I found the 



180 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

women-folk in a state of great consternation. The 
cakes were all fried for tea ; but the salt had been 
forgotten. "Sprinkle some over them," said I; 
* "twill strike through, won't it?" ''Oh, no!" 
said Mrs. Fennel. " The salt must be mixed into 
the dough at the beginning of it." 

" There," thought I, " that's the very ' figure of 
speech ' I want ! Yes, it comes just right. Let 
salt stand for goodness, and dough for the children. 
The goodness must be mixed in at the beginning 
of it : it is too late when the world has baked the 
dough up into men and women. It will be of no 
use then sprinkling it on outside : it won't strike 
through. All this illustrates my theory exactly. 
Yes, yes, mix it in at the beginning : that's it ! 
And mothers must do it." 

This point being settled, there arise three ques- 
tions ; namely. Is she qualified for this duty ? Has 
she facilities for performing it ? Does she feel that 
it is her chief duty ? 



"TURN 'EM off:' 181 



IX. 

"TUEN 'EM OFF." 

"TT was because I had my theory under consider- 
-^ ation, — the theory of child-training being the 
chief duty of a mother, — that I was so much im- 
pressed b3" our neighbor's remark concerning the 
*' three meals." ''Now, how is this?" said I to 
myself. " If ' the three meals take about all day,* 
and making and mending, the evening, where is the 
children's time coming from ? " 

And, indeed, where is it coming from? I see that 
they get scraps of attention, when, for instance, as in 
Mrs. Fennel's case, a bit of a sermon is thrown at 
them now and then in the interv^als of cooking, but 
not often a good square meal. I see that all things 
else are attended to before the children ; not 
meaning before they are clothed and fed, but before 
time is taken to talk or read with them. I see 
that mothers and children are, in a measure, stran- 
gers to each other ; that they have too little oppor- 



182 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

tunity of becoming intimate. I see, that, with the 
mothers of Tweenit, life is one prolonged hurry. 
Feet and hands are hurr^dng to " get things done." 
The mind is ever on the stretch, planning how to 
" g(;t things done," or fearing things will not " get 
done ; " and things do not *' got done." One day's 
work laps over on to the next, one week's on to the 
next, one month's, one year's ; and so there is no 
pause, no let-down. Rest, quiet, leisure, are here un- 
known teiTus with the mother of a family ; yet these 
are just what a mother of a family needs, and must 
have, for accomplishing what I think is her chief 
business ; for this business of hers requires thought, 
study, earnest preparation. It requires the mother. 
Yes, it requires herself personally. 

But how shall the children of Tweenit get their 
mothers, or the mothers their children? No doubt 
both would enjoy each other's nearer acquaintance. 
I remember hearing Mrs. Melendy talk one day to 
her little two or three yea^s old Rosa. 

'* You 'ittle peshious ! " she said. " Mother 
hasn't had you in her arms to-day. Mother will 
let every thing go, and hold you a little while, what- 
ever ! " 

The child was delighted. Both were delighted. 
They hugged each other. They played peekaboo ' 



''TURN 'EM OFF.' 



183 



They took kisses from each other's lips ; and, oh, 
what a good time they had ! It lasted nearly five 
minutes. Little Rosa would fain have been held 
longer ; but mother had too much to do. The 
singular part of it was, and the sorrowful part, that 
Mrs. Melendj' appeared to consider her five minutes* 
good time as a stolen pleasure. It was enjoyed 




with the feeling that she ought to be doing some- 
thing else. I had the curiosity to wait and see 
what that something else was, and found it to be 
lemon-pies. 

How is my theory going to work in Tweenit, if 
mothers have to steal time to fondle their chil- 
dren? 



184 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

I came across a story the other day, which con* 
tained an excellent moral, well conveyed. I carried 
the book in to Mrs. Melendy, and said to her, "This 
story is exactly the thing for your little boys. You 
might read it aloud some evening, and talk it over 
with them." 

" O Mr. McKimber!" said she, "if you only 
knew how much I've got to do ! Why, I can't sleep 
nights thinking of it ! " 

So there it is again. And how is my theory 
to work in Tweenit, if boys must go away fron 
home for their amusements, because mothers cannol 
even steal time to give them ? 

And how is it to work in other places, and 
among other classes? I have a cousin living in 
Elmbridge. She keeps help. I made a little visit 
there recently, one object of which was to learn 
whether she does or does not give to her children 
the leisure thus obtained. She does not. She gives 
it to extras in the way of cooking, extras in the way 
of house-adornments, extras in the way of dress. 
By way of test, I took my book with me, and pre- 
sented it with remarks like those addressed to Mrs. 
Melendj^ on a similar occasion. Her answer was 
almost identical with that of Mrs. Melendy: " Oh, 
you don't linow how much I have to do ! " 



''TURN 'EM OFFy 185 

And I did not know. I could form no idea of the 
labor of flouncing that " suit." It had already, she 
assured me, ts.ken one week's sitting-down time. 
My theory would not work at Cousin Sallie's. Well, 
now, thought I, just for the curiosity of the thing, 
let me try what are called the highest circles. 
There is one family in the highest circles, the 
Manchesters, with whom I am on visiting terms. 
They live in the city. They keep a cook, cham- 
bermaid, parlor-girl, nursery-maid, and usually a 
seamstress. As far as work is concerned, Mrs. 
Manchester's life is one prolonged state of leisure. 
Does she give this leisure to her children ? She does 
not : she gives it to society. I thought I would try 
the " book" in her case, and did so, scarcely able 
to conceal a smile, as I thought how little she ima- 
gined that an experiment was being made upon her 
for the benefit of domestic science. I said a few 
words, as on the two former occasions, perhaps en- 
larging rather more on the desirableness of mothers 
giving their children more of themselves. But now 
came in society. 

'' My dear Mr. McKimber, society demands so 
much ! Why, I scarcely have an hour to call my 
own ! " 

And I saw that it was so, — saw that what with 



186 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

shopping, dressing, dinner-parties, evening-parties, 
callers, and calling, the "chief duty" stood a 
small chance. 

Among all classes, then, — among the wealthy, 
the comfortably off, and the uncomfortably off, — 
children are wronged. Thc}^ are petted, pam- 
pered, furbelowed, amused, but still wronged : 
they are defrauded of their mothers. This is a 
broad statement ; and, of course, there are excep- 
tions. I know myself some thoughtful, careful, 
prayerful mothers, who understand their mission, 
and tr}'' to fulfil it. But, as a rule, the mission is 
not recognized. As a rule, childi'en are shoved 
aside. And this is done in many cases deliberately. 
Said one of the sewing-circle members, "It won't 
do to notice your children too much : if 3^ou do, you 
can't turn 'em off." 

Yes, " Turn 'em ofi"," is the cry. And turned 
off they are, — some for "society," some for 
" flounces," some for " lemon-pies." 

How, then, and where, then, is m}^ theory to work? 
for mothers, exceptions excepted, do not even feel 
that bo3'-and-girl-training is their first duty. And, 
allowing thej' could be convinced of this, then comes 
the question of time. How shall they find time to 
attend to it? which is rather an odd question, as it 



''TURN 'EM off:' 187 

might be supposed that one's first duty would have 
the first claim. Ah, well ! it is almost a hopeless 
case. The next generation will not be a good gen- 
eration, because it will not be started rightly ; and 
it will not be started rightty, because mothers are 
not attending to their business ; and mothers are 
not attending to their business, because the}^ " have 
no time," and because they are not aware that it is 
their business. 

Why do not philanthropists organize a society 
for the enlightenment of mothers? That is what 
the country needs. And when such a society shall 
have been organized, and have accomplished its 
purpose, another must be started, the object of 
which shall be to furnish mothers with time : not by 
putting more hours into the day, or more days into 
the week, but by an easy process which I have in 
my mind, and which I am willing to divulge. Its 
name begins with S. I will note down here that the 
name begins with S. 

There is a class of mothers not mentioned in these 
remarks, who make themselves slaves to their chil- 
dren bi7 trying to gratify all their whims and wishes. 
This class need enlightenment as much as any other, 
for the kind of attention which children shall receive 
is a consideration of the utmost importance. 



"188 THE SCUOOLM ASTER'S TRUNK. 



X. 

A LOOK AHEAD. 

TTTHEN the Society for the Enlightenment of 
' ' Mothers shall have accomplished its work, 
and, as a consequence, it has become a recognized 
idea in the communitj^ that woman's special duty is 
to rightly train her children, then it will be in order 
to organize that other society, the object of which 
shall be to provide mothers with time for attending 
to that special dutj^ And perhaps some of my 
remote descendants may be called upon to draft 
resolutions for said society, and may be glad to 
find, among the mustj^ papers of their great, great, 
great, many- times-great grandfather, a hint for a 
beginning, something like this, for instance : — 

" Whereas, Mothers of families are burdened with many 
cares, and whereas their crying want is want of time : there- 
fore, 

^^ Resolved, That, in our view, the necessities of the age de- 
mand the organization of a society, the object of which shaU 
be the diflfusion of time among mothers. 



A LOOK AHEAD. 189 

" Resolved, secondly, That this society boldly takes its stand 
on the platform of Simplification. 

^^ Resolved, thirdly, That, to effectually disseminate its 
views, this society requires, and shall have, an organ. 

^^ Resolved, fourthly. That said organ shall be called 'The 
Columbian Simplifier and Time-Provider ; * and that writers 
shall be pecuniarily encouraged to illustrate in its columns 
our grand idea of Simplification in its bearing on household 
duties and on dress." 

There, I leave my great, great, great, many-times- 
great grandchildren these hints, with my blessing, 
and would leave, also, an article for "The Simpli- 
fier," only for the diflSculty of putting myself in a 
frame of mind corresponding with so remotely 
future a state of things, — a state of things, that is, 
when the controlling purposes of woman's life shall 
have changed so entirely. 

I have a mind to try to do this, and write my 
article, and have it read at the sewing-circle ; but 
then it would be premature. These mothers do not 
yet recognize their mission ; neither do they jQi 
j)lace mental culture among the must haves. When 
they do, they will work for far other than their 
present aims ; not but that many of these are com- 
mendable, but that they stand in the way of better 
things. 

Take ironing, for instance. This forenoon I 



190 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

heard IMrs. Fennel say to Martha, '' Don't slight 
the towels. I take just as much pains with a coarse 
brown towel as I do with any thing." Mrs. Fennel 
prides herself on having the clothes ' ' look well on 
the horse,"* the tinware bright, stove polished, tables 
scoured, towel-fringes combed out nicely, and a 
pantry stored with nice things to tempt the appetite. 
Now, the question is not, are these ends worth 
attaining, but are the}^ the principal ones worth 
attaining ? 

I am aware that any insinuation of this kind read 
at the sewing-circle would bring a storm about my 
head at once. "What! slight the ironing?" 
"What! not scour the tin?" "What! not keep 
the stove bright ? " Well, they would certainly have 
right on their side ; and I should have, more cer- 
tainly, right on my side. My side being, that, through 
aU the toil and striving, something higher shall be 
kept in view, and that this something higher shall 
not be forever shoved aside for those other things 
lower. 

I suppose the Society for the Enlightenment of 
Mothers will put the case somewhat in this 
way,— 

" As woman has mind, it may be inferred that to 
* Clothes-horse, a local term for clothes-frame. 



A LOOK AHEAD. 191 

cultivate her mind should be one special object of 
woman's life. That is one statement. Then, to 
add another, nothing in the world can be more 
precious than a little child. It is no light respon- 
sibility, that of giving the first direction to an im- 
mortal Boul. Woman, in assuming a duty sc 
sacred, should feel that its claims rank above all 
others ; that it demands of her her very best. 

" A mother, then, should aim at two special 
duties ; namely, to cultivate her mind, and to rightly 
train her children. Though these two are stated 
separately, the last really includes the first, since, to 
rightly train her children, a mother needs to have 
every mental faculty under cultivation. This im- 
plies study, reflection, deliberation ; and these imply 
time. ' We have no time,' say these mothers, — ' no 
time for books, no time to think, no time to spend 
with our children.' Which is not true, because they 
have all the time there is, but feel bound to use it 
for other pm-poses." 

Now, here is where the Society for the Diffu> 
sion of Time among Mothers shall take up the 
work, and show how, by the application of its grand 
principle of Simplification to cooking and to di'ess, 
the inferior d aties can be made to deliver up their 
" lion's share " of time. Statistical writers in " The 



192 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

Columbian Simplifier " shall state the exact numbeT 
of rolling-pin strokes required b}^ an average family 
in a 3"ear, and the amount of time said strokes will 
consume, for the purpose of calculating how many 
hours and minutes are thus stolen from the two 
special objects. The same statistical writer, for a 
similar purpose, shall give, in figures, the stitches 
and minutes required to flounce an average family 
for a year. Comic writers will hold up to ridicule, in 
"The Simplifier," elaborate passages from the 
cook-book, thus handing them down to posterity, 
by whom they will be considered as relics of a bar< 
barons age. Among these passages will no doubt 
be this one concerning 

MINCE-PIES. 

'* Ten pounds of meat, three pounds of suet, one 
of currants, three of sugar, five of apple, four of 
raisins, one of citron, a pint of sirup of preserved 
fruit, a quart of wine, salt, cinnamon, clove, nut- 
meg, the juice and pulp of a lemon, the rind chopped 
fine." 

Among the illustrations of "The Simplifier" 
may be, perhaps, one of a woman at a sewing- 
machine, half-buried in as yet unruflled ruflaing ; 
musical instruments at the right of her, an easel 



.4 LOOK AHEAD. 



193 



with its belongings at the left of her, book-shelves 
well filled in front of her. If the artist be imagi- 
native, he ma}" depict, hovering over their several 
emblems, dim, shadowy forms to represent, respec- 
tivel}", the genius of music, of painting, of litera- 
ture, each vainly, and sorrowfull}' because vainly, 
beckoning the ruffler awa}-. Or, instead of a woman 
ruffling, it may be a woman, chopper in hand, con- 



^^MM^m^- 




cocting the above-quoted horror of the cook-book, 
surrounded, of course, by the various ingredients, 
each properl}' labelled. If the artist be sensational, 
as well as imaginative, he may introduce here, 
instead of tlio dim and shadowy figures just now 
mentioned, the grim and shadowy figure of DeatJi 



194 THE SCHOOLMASTEE'S TRUNK. 

as saying with an exultant laugh, " Go on, madam, 
go on. You are working in my interests ! " 

Then will come the essajdst. Imagine him 
thus, — 

" Some may ask, Mr. Editor, is it not desirable 
to live neatty, and to cook palatable food ? Yes. But 
is it for this alone that woman has intellect, talent, 
genius, aspirations ? Suppose, now, that one of these 
women live forty worldng-j^ears. At the end of that 
time she can look back, and sa}^, ' I have polished 
m}' stove twelve thousand times ; have scoured my 
knives thirtj^'-six thousand times ; have never left 
one wrinkle in one coarse towel ; have swept the 
house from garret to cellar two thousand and eighty 
times ; and I have made unnumbered thousands of 
cakes, pies, and hot biscuits.' Now, without sajing 
2iny thing against neatness, or against eating, can 
that woman, in accomplishing these ends onl}^, be 
said to have fulfilled the essential purposes of life ? 

" The case is something like this. A person is 
sent on an important mission, and, being asked if 
he has performed his mission, replies, ' Wh}^, no ! I 
had no time. It took all the time to look out for 
provisions, brush the dust off my clothes, and 
polish my boots. These duties have been faithfully 
attended to, I am proud to say.* 



A LOOK AHEAD. 195 

" Or suppose a sea-captain should devote his 
energies mainly to keeping the ship in order and his 
storeroom supplied, but never steer for any port. 
'"Cleanliness and good living "is my motto,* he 
would say, pointing exultingl}^ to his well-scrubbed 
decks and to his well-filled storeroom. ' Yes ; but 
it is necessarj^ to get somewhere,' might properly be 
answered. 

"Let woman, then, while insisting on neatness, 
remember her mission. Let her, sailing on life's 
seas, keep the ship in order and wholesomely pro- 
visioned, but at the same time steer for some port." 

The essajdst will, of course, bring in those who 
forget their mission while picking flowers, chasing 
butterflies, and blowing bubbles, and will in various 
waj'^s show that by simplif3'ing cooking, and simplify- 
ing dress, time may be diflused among mothers. 



'196 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 



XI. 

FENNEL PAYNE AND ADELINE. 

npWEENIT is usually in a state of ferment from 
one cause or another. Last week it was a quar- 
rel between two neighbors ; the week before it was 
Aunt Jinny's (Aunt Jinny under the hill) under- 
taking to have company ; this week, it is silver- 
plated knives. Fennel Payne has bought for Ade- 
line silver-plated knives. "It does beat all!" 
exclaims Mrs. Laura, who is now discussing the 
matter with Mrs. Fennel in an adjoining room. 
My prophetic ej^e sees a day in the far-off future, 
when, even in countrj^ villages, women's thoughts 
will be occupied by subjects of more importance. 
Meanwhile, Nature abhorring a vacuum, gossip 
flows in, as one may say, like a sea, filling every little 
creek and inlet between the solid high lands of 
housework and needlework. 

It is amazing, the relish with which a choice bit 
of this standard entertainment is enjoyed. Mrs. 



FENNEL PAYNE AND ADELINE. 197 

Laura comes over on some errand (she is a stoutly- 
built woman with a determined cast of counte- 
nance), and sits down by Mrs. Fennel. The talk- 
begins : it grows interesting. They lean toward 
each other : there is animation in their faces, a light 
in their eyes, feeling in every tone. The announce- 
ment of a national calamity could hardly be received 
with greater emotion than is this wonderful news 
of to-day. "Silver-plated knives? What do you 
mean ? " 

It was Fennel Payne and Adeline who were 
criticised by the sewing- ckcle for their way of 
spending time and money. Indeed, Tweenit in 
general disapproves of this couple : it calls them 
" stuck up." I know this cannot be true of Adeline, 
because she is an intimate friend of my friend Mrs. 
Royal of Piper's Mills, and therefore must have 
common-sense, and therefore cannot be " stuck up." 
And, as for her husband, I like the looks of him much, 
and mean to accept his kind invitation to ' ' come 
over." These two words seem to suflSce for all 
ordinary complimenting in Tweenit, especially at 
the breaking-up of a gathering, when it fairly rains 
"come overs." But hark! List! What is Mrs. 
Laura saying? " Every day ! " " They don't keep 
them for company, but use them every day ! " 



198 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

This is the last straw which breaks the .back of 
forbearance. Purchasing the articles at all was bad 
enough ; but using them " every day" is atrocious. 
These two, Fennel Payne and Adeline, are rare 
specimens, which must be examined. The interests 
of my science demand it. I shall go " over." 

TWO WEEKS LATER. 

Well, I have been over several times ; and I en- 
tirely approve of Fennel Payne and Adeline. They 
are a couple in advance of their times, — a couple 
worthy to live in the days of "The Columbian Simpli- 
fier and Time-Provider." They believe in books, in 
beauty, in social intercourse, and in out-doors. 

I found my friend Mrs. Royal staying there the 
last time I called. She is quite enthusiastic about 
Mr. Fennel Payne, and, finding that I sjTupathize in 
her enthusiasm, has kindly lent me these extracts, 
copied from letters which a young friend of hers 
received from Adeline's sister, one Miss Vining. 
They eulogize Fennel Payne, and, at the same time, 
solve the great knife mystery. 

EXTRACTS. 

. , . "Pretty scenery, river, meadow, woods 
bej'ond. They live up stairs, have one cooking- 
room, one sitting-room, two sleeping-rooms, with 



FENNEL PAYNE AND ADELINE. 199 

garret privileges, and the right to wash in the sink- 
room, down below, the second pleasant day after 
Sunday. Adeline does her own work, and takes 
care of little Adeline and Buddy, as they call baby. 
He is — but, as the girl in the book says, there 
never will be a word invented adequate to describe 
your sister's baby. No, there never will. And such 
a husband as Adeline has got ! Oh, I tell you 
there are not many Fennel Paynes in this world ! 
Oh, .they two do take such comfort ! Why, the very 
atmosphere of the house is full of comfort, and you 
have to breathe it in. 

" Fennel comes home from work at evening, 
and settles himself down with an air of intense 
satisfaction, as if this were for him the only spot 
in all the world. Sometimes he undresses Buddy, 
Adeline, meanwhile, stepping about, doing up the 
work, going sideways so as to keep her eyes on 
them, and telling over all the cunning things baby 
and little Adeline have committed during the day. 
At last baby's father, after fumbling at the night- 
gown strings, and t3dng them in a single bow- 
knot, covers him over like a cocoon. Then lullaby, 
hushab}' , softly and gently. Fennel's low tones are 
wonderfully sweet ; and now and then Adeline joins 
In ' with sweet accord.' I tell you 'tis such a 



200 



THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 



perfect taking comfort, it almost brings the tears 
to my eyes. That baby's slumbers ought to be 
sweet, thus watched and tended. But it is so funn3 
to see a man tr}' to glide ! In Fennel's tiptoe 
performances he seems to be putting himself uni- 
versally out of joint. . . . 

" Fennel is unwilling to have Adeline do any veiy 
hard work. They live well, but simply ; that i?, 




they have the best of bread, meats, fruit, &c., but 
no elaborate concoctions which take time to prepare, 
and cost money to bu}'. Fennel says he thinks the 
right way is to save on non-essentials, and spend on 
essentials. Among essentials he counts books and 
pictures, especially books that have any bearing on 



FENNEL PAYNE AND ADELINE. 201 

education. He says, that, as Adeline has little 
Adeline and Buddy to bring up, she ought to have 
the means of preparing herself to do it, and beau- 
tiful things to look at, and leisure to enjoy them, so 
as to keep herself in a pleasant frame of mind. 
There is nothing he will not do to make Adeline's 
work easy for her. I don't mean ever to marry till I 
find a man just lilce Fennel Payne. But he has 
no brother. Alas and alackaday ! Why, he even 
bought silver-plated knives to save Adeline's arms 
and Adeline's moments. His Aunt Laura was over 
yesterday ; and she gave him quite a lecture on 
extravagance, also threw out something about the 
mother of a family sitting down to read in the 
daytime. Fennel declared that he could buy a set 
of knives every month with what his aunt spent in 
cooking the unnecessaries of life ; and Adeline did 
a sum in tarts and doughnuts to show where her 
reading-time came from. Fennel said, that, if any- 
body ought to sit down to read in the daytime, it 
is the mother of a family ; for she, more than anybody, 
needs whatever help books can give . Aunt Laura said 
_she approved of la34ng by for a xscmy day ; and Ade- 
line said that was just what she was doing, — la3'ing 
up ideas against the.da}^ when her health might not 
be so good, or her family so small. ' The question 



202 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

is, Aunt Laura,' said she, ' who wastes time and 
money, — you, or I?' Uncle David and Aunt 
Laura have alwa3's worked like slaves, and do now ; 
but every dollar saved is put into the bank or into 
land. There's hardly a pretty thing in their house. 
They work and save, work and save, denjdng them- 
selves almost every enjoyment, except that of eating. 
They will live well. Uncle David owned to Fennel 
once, that he wants to have the name, when he dies, 
of leaving property. What a funny idea it is, when 
you come to think of it, — the idea of living this life, 
that can't be lived but once, entirely for the sake of 
accumulating something, which, when we have done 
living, can be of no use to us ! I agree with Fennel 
and Adeline, that we ought to get out of life what is 
best worth ha\ing. I suppose we can carry that 
with us ; don't you ? And I shall not marry until I 
meet with a man — well, something like Fennel, or, 
at any rate, who believes as I do in these matters. 
Though, to be sure, I might take one that differed a 
little, supposing one offered, and convert him ; but 
it would be advisable to do this last before marriage, 
perhaps before the engagement. . . . 

"Aunt Laura has just come over again, and she 
and Adeline are discussing the chapel question. 
They are on opposite sides, of course. 'Tis as 



FENNEL PAYNE AND ADELINE. 203 

good as a play, being in Tweenit now ; and I long 
to stay longer. Such exciting times ! The women, 
it seems, have earned money to build a chapel 
(there never was any meeting-house here) ; and 
now the men, who have all along discouraged them 
from doing it, they step forward, and want to form 
a regular parish that shall build the chapel, and 
run it generally ; but they are not going to allow 
the women to come to the parish-meetings, and 
speak, — the meetings that are to dispose of their 
own money. They say it would be wicked. Isn't 
this funny ? " . . . 



204 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 



xn. 

NE^V INVENTION WANTED. 

"T HEARD Nanny Joe remark, the other day, 
-^ that begging money was akin to pulling teeth ; 
and, for her part, she wished there was a way of 
putting people's avaricious propensities under some 
influence akin to laughing-gas, that their money 
might be drawn without pain. I said to her in 
reply, that fairs answer the purpose very well, as 
I could testify from experience ; having taken them 
often, and found in every instance the effect to 
be such, that I scarcely knew of any operation 
being performed, until I woke up, and found my 
money extracted. Nanny replied, that such ma- 
chinery was too cumbersome, and that she meant 
some little, handy pocket-contrivance to be applied 
individually. Probably Mr. David was the indi- 
vidual in her mind at the time. The old man is 
pretty well to do for a farmer ; yet his dollars come 
hard. Every one has roots to it ; and the roots are 
clinched. 



NEW INVENTION WANTED. 205 

Nanny Joe and Nanny Moses have been trying 
to beg money enough to buy a second-hand sewing- 
machine for Mrs. Hannah Knowles. Mr. Knowles, 
a year or two ago, was killed by falling from a roof; 
and his widow has been struggling ever since 1o 
support the family, — 3-es, struggling, and among 
all these Christians ! 

It would seem no more than fair that a home 
bereft in such a wa}^ should be provided with even 
more comforts than the happier homes around ; that 
a heart thus grief-stricken should be relieved of 
every possible burden, — no more than fair, and no 
more than Christian-like. Christianity, it is said, is 
better than other religions, because it teaches that 
we are all brothers and sisters. Now, among a 
family of children, the rule is, when one has any 
thing good, "Give dear brother or sister some." 
How often have I heard this at Mrs. Melendy's ! 
And another thing. Yesterday, while I was calling 
there, little Rosa Melendy fell, and bruised her head. 
The other children were around her in a moment, — 
one with a doll, one with a cook}', one with a kiss, 
one with a flower ; all tr3'ing to comfort the child. 
Maybe we are all brothers and sisters, as our 
religion teaches ; but I know that we are not will- 
ing, all of us, when we have any thing good, tc 



206 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK, 

' give dear brother or sister some," or always eager 
to heap kindnesses on any member of the family 
whose heart has been bruised by sorrow. 

Nann}' Joe says there are very few people — that 
is, very few people in Tweenit (they are doubtless 
plent}^ elsewhere) — who are willing, really willing, 
to give away half a dollar right out and out. She 
asked five indi^aduals to contribute that sum 
toward the sewing-machine, and they refused ; they 
were unmarried men, too, earning daily wages, 
which were spent freely in tobacco, confectionery, 
horse-hire, and other gratifications. Nanny says 
that half a dollar to be spent on one's self is a 
modest, insignificant little aflfair ; but, if to be given 
away, it gi'ows so big it can hardly be got out of 
the pocket. 

I wonder how it would be if we all gave, not 
from pity, or from dut}^, but, as one may say, imper- 
sonall}^ For instance, I deny mj'self a pleasure 
that would cost two dollars, and bestow one cost- 
ing the same sum upon Mrs. Knowles, saying to 
myself, "What matters it, since a pleasure is en- 
joj^ed, whether the individual Henry McKimber 
enjoys it, or the individual Hannah Knowles?" 
This, of course, is merely' a hj-pothetical case. 

Mr. David has arrived at no such state of imper- 



NEW INVENTION WANTED. 207 

sonality ; neither has Mrs. Laura. I happened to 
be at their house when Nanny Joe called. Mr. 
David thought that Hannah Knowles might put 
out her children, and then go to the almshouse. 
He said he save fifty cents three weeks before to 
help bu}^ a new stove for Aunt Jinn}' under the hill ; 
also that he felt poorer than common just then, on 
account of having between one hundred and two 
hundred dollars not drawing interest, waiting for him 
to find a safe wa}' of investing it ; also that his wife's 
breaking her arm had been a great damage to him. 
Nanny Joe ofiered to accept potatoes, and dispose 
of them at Piper's Mills. He said potatoes were 
a cash article, but finally agreed to her taking half a 
bushel. The tea-table was standing ; and I observed 
that there was no lack of good things to eat. Mr. 
David, no doubt, takes it for granted that he must 
have his comforts, whatever others ma}' lack. Per- 
haps he thinks this is true Bible doctrine. Mr. David 
is a very doctrinal man. 

Nanny Joe asked Mrs. Laura for some old 
pantaloons to make over for Mrs. Knowles's son. 
Mrs. Laura replied that her husband and the boys 
were very hard on their pantaloons. There are two 
sons at home, Elbridge and Prince, tall, slim boys 
of thirtj'-five or fort}'. Elbridge has a small face, 



208 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

and a (jomical, one-sided twinkle of the eye, wliic-li 
he takes from his father. 

Mrs. Laura brought out various garments, in 
various stages of deca}-, each of which was exam- 
ined in turn. One pair would stand it a spell for 
second -))est ; another would do for rainy weather ; 
another, for rough work ; and so on. A pair of 




gray satinets, weak-kneed, and in other respects 
decrepit, Elbridge remarked, with his one-sided 
twinkle, were "jest about a herrin'." But his 
mother declared them to be the very things to 
wear In the woods. Then he picked up a pair of 
brown ones, saying they were too short ever to be 
worn again without "splicing," and that Hannah 



NEW INVENTION WANTED. 209 

Knowles had better take them. His mother said 
she would see, first, if there were any pieces like 
them in the bag, '' to lengthen the legs down." 
The bundle-bag was brought forward, roll after roll 
taken out, and its label read: "Prince's mixed 
suit o' clothes," " Father's last tail-coat," "Father's 
summer alpaca waistcoat," " Elbridge's sack cut 
Qut by Sally Payne's pattern," " Prince's satinet 
pantaloons," " Elbridge's frock-coat he had cut out 
by the tailor," " Elbridge's brown small-legs panta- 
loons " — 

"That's the animal!" cried Elbridge. "But 
it doesn't look like 'em." 

" They'll fade alike, though, some time or other," 
his mother remarked. ' 

" These won't fade alike, though," he cried, 
taking up a pair spotted over with paint. 

" I've been saving that pair o' pantaloons to 
braid," answered his mother; "but still" (exam- 
ining them closely) " they're rather stiff; and on 
the whole, if Hannah Knowles can make any use 
of that pair of pantaloons, she may have 'em." 
" So, Mrs. Laura," thought I, " you give away 
what is of no use to you. True Bible benevolence 
that ! " Mrs. Laura is a stanch Bible woman. 

Nanny Joe declined the get erous gift, and rose 



210 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

to go, fearing, as she afterward told me, that the 
chapel question might be introduced ; which question 
she had then no leisure for discussing. I came out at 
the same time, having something to communicate on 
that very subject. Just as we got outside the gate, 
a bundle came down plump on the ground in front 
of us, which same, by unrolling, showed itself to 
be " Elbridge's brown small-legs pantaloons.'* We 
turned, and, guided by a loud liem^ looked up to the 
roof, and saw there the comical phiz of the owner 
protruding from a scuttle. He gave a nod, a finger- 
shake of warning, and vanished. We pick'ed up the 
prize, but had a narrow escape with it, as Mrs. Laura 
opened the door suddenl}- to ask Nanny Joe if she 
had seen a certain piece in the paper about woman's 
sphere. 

The dispute as to whether women shall or shall 
not be allowed to become speaking and voting mem- 
bers of the parish shakes Tweenit to its centre. The 
sewing-circle members think they should have a 
voice in the disposal of their own money ; but the 
men, man)'' of them, cannot see their way clear to 
letting them have a voice in the disposal of their own 
money, or a voice in their own chapel when it shall 
be built. The quarrel waxes warm. Not only the 
neighborhood, but families, are divided. Elbridge 



N£W INVENTION WANTED. 211 

Melendj^ thinks differently from his father. Martha 
Fennel and her lover are on opposite sides ; and, 
in their case, the warmth of the argun ent has pro- 
duced a coolness of feeling. We shall see what we 
shall see. 



212 THE SCHOOLM ASTER'S TRUNK, 



xrrr. 

A TAI;K IN THE SCHOOLHOUSE. 

A FTER the women, by working at home and 
*^-^ begging abroad, had obtained the requisite 
sum, the men came forward, and proposed meeting 
together to form a society, or parish, which should 
build the chapel, and regulate all things pertaining 
thereto. The women said, ''Yes, a very proper 
thing to do: we'll come." — "Oh, no!" the men 
said : " we can manage it ourselves. You don't un- 
derstand house-building ; besides, a woman would be 
out of place in a parish meeting." 

Nanny Joe affirmed that she and several mem- 
bers of the sewing-circle had consulted builders, and 
obtained their proposals. Mr. David answered, 
very well ; that, when the parish should be regularly 
formed, she could send in a prepared statement, and 
the parish would act upon it. The matter created 
quite a stir in the neighborhood ; and it soon became 
evident that Mr. David and others strongly objected 
to " women speaking in meeting." Some, however. 



A TALK IN THE SCHOOLHOUSE. 213 

held views opposite to those of Mr. David, and were 
not backward in expressing those views. At last 
the direct question was raised, whether, in any 
future meetings to be held in the chapel, a woman 
should, or should not, be allowed to speak. 

This question has been freely discussed, not upon 
set occasions, but as people met in their usual way 
of dropping in ; what he said, and what she said, 
being told from house to house. Two parties have 
been formed ; and the excitement is very great. 
Everybody says there was never any thing like it 
in Tweenit before. There probably was never so 
much Bible-reading. Each side searches out texts 
whereby to sustain its position. At first, the women 
were united ; but, latterly, some of them, influenced 
by husbands, brothers, or lovers, have come out 
against themselves. Mrs. Laura says she has 
said, '' Amen ! " or " Glory ! " occasionally in a revi- 
val-meeting at Piper's Mills, but that was before she 
looked into the subject ; and she sees now, that, as 
the command forbids women to speak, one word is 
as wrong as twenty words. Mr. David and others 
say that the text is plain and direct, and therefore 
they cannot conscientiously worship in the building, 
if women speak in the meetings. The opposite 
party contend that the prohibition was a local aflair, 



214 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

applying only to the women of those days, and of 
that Eastern country. Mr. David replies, that, if 
you are going to explain away the Bible, you may 
as well not have any Bible. 

Fennel Payne and some others propose that the 
men meet in the schoolhouse, and there tails 
the matter over, and, if possible, come to some 
decision. Mr. David says he is ready to do 
this, if Fennel Payne's party will take the Bible 
literally, and not add, nor take away, nor explain 
away. 

Four days later. Last evening the men came 
together in the schoolhouse. Those who live near 
brought lamps, candles, and lanterns, which, being 
set in a row on the desk, did their best to bring out 
the low ceiling and dingy walls. Mr. David opened 
the discussion by saying that he saw no reason for any 
discussion at all, if we believed the Bible : for there 
was the text in plain words: "/if is not permitted 
that a woman sJioukl speak in the church" 

Fennel Payne asked whether the word " church" 
meant a building, or the collection of people who 
partake of the sacrament, and are called "the 
church." Mr. David said it probably meant either, 
or both. "Then," said Fennel, " if a collection 
of people who do not belong to the church assemble 



A TALK IN THE SCHOOLHOUSE. 215 

in a building which is not a church, a woman may 
speak to them ? " 

'Mi. David began to say that the prohibition was 
probably intended to cover — but Fennel remit ded 
him that nothing was to be added, or subtracted, or 
explained away. 

Then a man named Hale rose, and asked if it 
were right for women to teach in sabbath schools. 
" Certainlj^ it is ! " answered Mr. Zenas Melendy, 
" ver}^ right and very proper." — " And if,'* 
continued Mr. Hale, " inquirers anxious for the 
welfare of their souls should come to your wife, 
seeking light on religious subjects, it would be right 
for her to give them information? " — " Certainly ! '* 
answered Mr. Zenas. " She would be very blame- 
worthy in not doing it." — "On the contrary," 
replied Mr. Hale, opening his Testament, " she is 
strictly forbidden to do it. Here Paul says, ' / 
suffer not a woman to teach.* This excludes women 
from teaching the truths of the gospel, from teach- 
ing in the sabbath school, in high schools, normal 
schools, any schools." 

"But Paul didn't mean," began Mr. Zenas — 
" Excuse me," interrupted Mr. Hale. "The con- 
ditions are, not to add, nor subtract, nor explain 
away. And here in Ephesians is another text." 



216 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

Mr. Hale then read, '' Wives.^ submit yourselves to 
your husbands in every thing " and asked if that 
command were to be obeyed without adding, sub- 
tracting, or explaining away. 

*' Why, yes," answered Mr. Zenas, with a hesi- 
tancy which caused a general smile ; it being pretty 
well understood in Tweenit that Mrs. Zenas does 
not fulfil that command to the very letter. 

''This injunction, then," remarked Mr. Hale, 
*' takes from wiv^es all personal responsibility. Sub- 
mit yourselves to your husbands in every thing. If 
a husband wishes his wife to do a wrong act, it is 
her duty to obey him." 

Mr. David said, that, of course, a woman should 
not do any thing against her own conscience. Mr. 
Hale replied, that the text left her no right of pri- 
vate judgment, inasmuch as Paul declared over and 
over again in his epistles, that the wife must submit 
to the husband, and that " the husband is the head of 
the wife, as Christ is the head of the church." " And 
here," Mr. Hale continued, "is a passage which 
commands us to ' Owe no man any thing.' Those 
who cannot worship in a building in which women 
speak cannot worship with any person who is in 
debt. And here again" (turning the leaves) " are 
other texts : ' Let no man seek his own, but every 



A TALK IN THE SCEOOLHOUSE. 217 

man another's wealth.* ^ Bear ye one another's 
burdens.* These are equally emphatic : if one 
binds, all bind." 

It was at this point that Cyrus Fennel (brother of 
Martha) made a hit at Mr. David. He arose, and, 
looking toward the old man, said he should like to 
inquire whether Christ's commands were as binding 
as those of Paul? Mr. David said that certainly 
they were, and more so. Cyrus then read these 
words of Christ : '' Give to every man that asketh of 
thee." This brought to every face an amused, half- 
pleased expression ; Mr. David's stinginess being 
almost a by- word here. He replied, that every man 
has a duty to his family. Fennel Payne reminded 
him again that nothing was to be explained away, 
and then read other commands of Christ, each 
of a similar import to the one mentioned by Cyrus. 
He then repeated all the different texts which had 
been brought forward, beginning with that against 
women speaking in the church. " And now I want 
to ask," he continued, " why the first of these 
injunctions should be taken literally, and the others 
not?" 

As Fennel Payne sat down, a tall, gray-haired 
man arose, — the same who came through the place, 
not long ago, selling " Bitters " of his own making 



218 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

He is a pleasant-faced, good-humored man, and 
travels, with his jugs, in an antique carryall, on the 
outside of which is written with chalk, ' ' Archangel 
Bitters." His name is Hensiford. This man arose, 
and, after asking permission to speak, said in a 
bland, mild tone, speaking slowly, '' My friends, 
it comes to my mind to ask a question, which is 
this : Why are men met together to decide this mat- 
ter? My friends, if the Almighty Creator meant 
that woman should be judged by the law, he gave to 
her an understanding mind to understand the law : 
otherwise, God is unjust. And, my friends, if 
women are to be saved, or lost, according to the 
deeds done in the body, it must be that the}^ have 
consciences whereby the}'' may tell right from wrong : 
otherwise, God is unjust. My friends, woman 
either is a responsible being, or she is not a respon- 
sible being: she can't be sometimes one, and 
sometimes the other. It does not appear to me, 
my friends, that we are called upon to decide this 
matter. The brother on my right hand allowed, 
just now, that woman should be guided by her con- 
science. Paul asks, ' Why is my liberty judged of 
another man's conscience ? ' Women might ask the 
same question by putting in the word ' any ' in place 
of ' another.' And now, my friends," continued 



A TALK IN THE HCHOOLHOUSE 219 

the old man, looking round with a persuasive smile, 
''what a plain and simple way it would be to let 
women understand Scripter with their own imder- 
standings, and regulate their behavior by the voice 
of their own consciences I " 



220 ^^^ SCHOOLMASTER' R TRUNK. 



XIV. 

AN ENTERTAINING MEETING. 

rr^HE great chapel question has been decided at 
-^ last by a coup d'etat. Cyrus Fennel had prom- 
ised to give a lot of land ; and the deed was made 
out some time ago, but not signed. At last, grow- 
ing impatient with what he called the narrowness of 
Mr. David and a few others, Cyrus declared that he 
never would sign the deed, unless it was agreed that 
any person and every person who might feel moved 
to speak in their meetings should have liberty to do 
so. Some one suggested to Mr. David that he 
come up with Cyrus by giving a lot of land himself. 
This thunder-clap of a suggestion cleared Mr. 
David's mental vision sufficiently to enable him to 
perceive that the minority should not stand out 
longer against the majority, and that possibly, by 
entering their protest, they had done all that was 
required of them. 

Previous to this, however, a plan was proposed, 



AN ENTERTAINING MEETING. 221 

which elicited a curious little bit of information in 
regard to the law. The plan was, that the sew- 
ing-circle should build and own the chapel. Some 
one queried whether or not this could be done legally ; 
and, to make sure, Mrs. Hale and Adeline Payne 
went to Elmbridge one day, and consulted a lawyer. 

The sewing-circle met here that afternoon ; and, 
on returning from Elmbridge, the two delegates has- 
tened over to announce the result of their mission. 
The lawyer had assured them, they said, that no 
company of manied women could own a building, or 
any other property. " Not even a hen-house," said 
Adeline. ''The lawyer told us, that, if we two 
should want to set up storekeeping together, we 
couldn't own our stock of goods." 

This announcement was followed by a dead calm, 
and the dead calm by a hurricane of exclamations : 
" Well, I declare ! " " Now, if that isn't a good 
one ! " '* What, not when we earned the money to 
build it?" ''Pretty state of things!" "I don't 
see why not!" "-The ones that made that law 
better make it over ! " * 

There was an old lady present, — a frequent vis- 
itor in Tweenit, — one Mrs. Heath, commonly called 

* Eecent legislative proceedings show that soiie law 
makers are of the same opinion. 



222 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

"Aunt Mary," a white-haired, sallow-faced, but, 
on the whole, a pleasant-looking old lady. When 
the storm had subsided, Aunt Mary remarked in 
her quiet way, that she could tell them a fact or 
two about law. Her fact or two was as follows. 
She married, at the age of twenty-six, a seafaring 
man five years older than herself. Her husband 
made only one voj^age after they were married. He 
owned a house and a small piece of ground : another 
piece was bought, partly with her money, both to- 
gether making quite a snug little farm. She kept 
boarders some of the time, and made a practice of 
taking in work (tailoring had been her trade) in or- 
der to help along, so that what mone}^ was raised 
from the place might be spent on the place. They 
had no children. After twenty-eight j^ears of married 
life she became a widow. The law gave her one-half 
the personal property, and the improvement of one- 
thii'd of the real estate : the rest went to her 
husband's brother. " A share of the place was 
set off to me," said Aunt Mary, '' and rights of 
way ' allowed me' across my own premises. I had 
?ome privileges in the house too, besides the rooms 
that were set off to me ; the privilege, for instance, 
of going thi'ough my own front entry, and into my 
own sinkroom. Every thing in the house wa& 



AN ENTERTAINING MEETING 223 

appraised. Samuel took half of the furniture, 
dishes, beds, and bedding ; took some things made 
of inlaid work and of shell-work, — things I set a 
good deal o' store b}', because my husband brought 
them home to me before we were married. Li-zy 
kind o' hated to take 'em ; but she said, says she, 
' You know everybody likes to have what's their 
own.' " 

"Couldn't he have made a will?" asked some 
one. 

" Oh, yes ! he could, and he did mean to make one. 
I was only speaking of the law. He meant to give 
it all to me." 

While Aunt Mary was telling her story, old Mr. 
Hale came in, father to the Mr. Hale who spoke in 
the meeting. The old man said he couldn't help 
feeling an interest to know how the lawyers laid 
down the law. 

After hearing the decision, and hearing Aunt 
Mary's story, he said, " Wal, ladies, 3'ou woman- 
kind must make up your minds to let patience have 
her parfcct work. The laws favor 3^e more than they 
did. Women have come up considerable since Paul's 
day. I don't believe there's a minister in the land 
would stand up and preach a discourse in favor of 
that text, ' Women, submit yourselves unto your hus- 



224 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK, 

bands in every thing.' He'd be laughed down. 
And suppose a writer should write an essay to 
proA'^e that wives ought to keep that command, and 
send it to that biggest New- York double newspaper. 
What would the editor do with that essay? Pjt it 
into his head column? 

*' You jest wait. There's a great to-do new about 
a woman's gittin' up to speak in a revival-meetin'. 
Wal, in my father's day, there was a great to-do 
about their not wearin' their veils into the meetin'- 
house. Ministers took sides, and arter a while it 
got into the Boston newspapers. The greatest minis- 
ters in the State preached for and agin it. There 
was a famous minister came to our town. I've heard 
my father tell the story many a time. Father said 
he was among the last of his teens then, and said he 
used to sit in a square pew in the gallery, back to 
the pulpit ; and the girl he wanted to go with sat down 
below, jest far enough off, and not too near, for him 
to keep lookin' at her, and she at him, now and 
then ; and that kind o' took up his mind in sermon- 
time. He had never durst to try to be her beau in 
earnest. He'd walked alongside once or twice, but 
never'd had the face to offer his arm ; and he'd made 
dependence on his Sundays, and been steady to 
meetin* for reasons aforesaid. Wal, when the veil 



AN ENTERTAINING MEETING 225 

question begun to make a stir, all the girls, and she 
among 'em, became persuaded in their minds they 
ought to wear their veils into the meetin' -house, 
and keep 'em down ; and this caused a dreadful de- 
privation to him, and to others likewise. 

" And, arter things had gone on so a spell, there 
came a famous preacher to town, one of the uncom- 
mon rare ones ; and he preached a sermon with 
thirteen heads, all goin' to show that women could 
keep their veils down, or not keep 'em down, jest as 
they pleased. That was in the forenoon. Father 
said, that, in the arternoon, ever}- single girl in that 
meetin'-house sat all meetin'-time with her veil up 
He said 'twas jest like light breakin' in arter a 
cloudy shadow." 

" Aijd what about the girl?" asked Martha 
Fennel. " Did he have the girl? " 

" No. The girl had a j'oung man that she didn't 
look at, that sat over across in the other galler}^" 

'' But it can't be true," remarked Adeline Pa3'ne, 
'' that ministers really did pretend to dictate 
v\hether women should wear veils, or not? " 

" Jest what Mr. Picket's wife said, over at Elm 
Bridge, when I told them this same story. I said 
'twas actooally true. And Mr. Picket, said he, * I 
tell you how we'll prove it. You said 'twa ■ in 



226 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

the old Boston newspapers. M}' cousin goes repre- 
sentative to General Court. They keep files of the 
old Boston papers in the Boston Librar}-/ sa3'S he ; 
' and I'll write m}^ cousin word to look 'em over. 
We reckoned back, and found father must have beer 
among the last of his teens about the j^ear 1800 
So Mr. Picket wrote word to his cousin ; and his 
cousin looked the files over, and found a paper thr* 
had a piece in it on this ver}^ subject ; and thv 
name of the paper, if I don't mistake my memor;y 
was ' The Columbia Sentinel.' " 

I was quite interested in this little story of Mr 
Hale's. Indeed, since m}^ attention has been called 
to domestic science, I have felt a steadily-increas- 
ing interest in whatever relates to the condition of 
women, past, present, and future. Pre\dous to that, 
I used to think, or rather took it for granted in an 
indifierent way without thinking, that, in matters of 
religion, women were on an equality with men. I 
had the impression that this equality was claimed for 
one of the results of Christianity as being enjoined 
by the text, ending, "Neither male nor female, but 
all one in Christ Jesus." A few sarcastic remarks 
of Nanny Joe (which remarks I had in mind while 
writing one of the early numbers of these papers) , 
together with some of my own observations, havt 



AN ENTERTAINING MEETING. 227 

caused mo to read with close attention the discus- 
sions -which are so continually going on in the papers 
in regard to what woman should or should not be 
allowed to do. And, with all my reading and all my 
thinking, I can arrive at no other conclusion than 
that of my friend who sells '' Archangel Bitters ; " 
namely, that woman, having been endowed by her 
Creator with mind and with conscience, should be 
left to understand Scripture with her own under- 
standing, and to judge for herself what is right, 
and what is wrong, man not being accouiitablo 
therefor. 



228 THE SCHOOLMASTER'!^ TRUNK. 



XV. 

THE WRITER FACES HIS OWN MUSKJ. 

A LADY-FRIEND, after looking over my pa- 
-^-^ pers, asked why I harped so much on the rather 
low and trivial subject of eating. "Because," said 
I, '' daily observation has diiven me to it." And 
this is just the truth. I see that everybody takes it 
for granted they must have good living, "what- 
ever," to use Mrs. Melend^'-'s word, rather than 
pleasures of a higher grade, even the pleasure of 
helping the needy. 

Take a close-fisted man like Mr. David, who, 
though well enough ofi", practises the strictest stingi- 
ness. With him the spending of each dime ia 
carefully considered. A half-dollar given away is, 
as one may say, hung up in his memory, set in a 
frame, for hand}^ reference. When such a man 
afibrds his family cakes, pies, preserves, and the 
like, for their daily food, we may consider such 
things to be firmly established as " must haves." 



THE WRITER FACES HIS OWN MUSIC. 229 

Indeed, all classes, poor as well as rich, seem to 
agree that the earning and compounding of these 
and similar articles rank among the chief objects of 
life. The ver}^ phrase "good living" shows this, 
since it implies that to live well is to' eat well. A 
man said to me the other day, ' ' When I can't eat 
and drink what I want to, then I want to die." 

Now, if we were created only a little lower than 
the angels, there certainly should be a wider space 
between us and the inferior animals than such a state 
of gormandism denotes. Not that the pleasures of 
eating are to be wholly despised. There is, after 
all, a relationship between us and the brutes ; and 
we need not be ashamed to own our kindred, or to 
share in their enjoyments. Besides, these grains, 
fruits, vegetables, &c., which we are called to meet 
three times a day, are all our relations, on the 
mother's side (Mother Nature's) , and should by no 
means be regarded with contempt, especially as it is 
their destiny to be worked up into human beings, 
actually made bone of our bone, and flesh of om* 
flesh. 

I believe in festival days with all my heart, which 
is the very best way of believing. I think we 
should sometimes call our friends together, and 
gratify the whole of them (not meaning all of 



230 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

them, but the whole nature of each one), — give 
them bright thoughts for the intellect, friendliness for 
the heart, and good things for the palate, keeping, as 
regards the last, within the bounds of common-sense 
and healthfulness. 

The palate craves enjo3Tnent ; and that craving, 
being a natural one, must be recognized as such. 
But what I insist upon is this ; namely, that gratify- 
ing the palate shall not rank among the chief 
occupations or the chief enjoyments of life, for it 
has usuiped those positions long enough. 

And not only is it an usurper, crowding out better 
and more ennobling aims, but it makes slaves of 
women, and seriously affects their peace of mind. I 
have a bright-e3'ed young cousin, whose one idea, 
during the first half of the day at least, is to pre- 
pare a dinner which shall please the fastidious taste 
of her husband. For this end she works, plans, 
ponders, exj)eriments, contrives, invents, and consults 
cook-books and cooks ; and, this end attained, she is 
happy. But I have seen her at mealtime, when he 
has criticised unfavorabl}^ a dish on which she had 
spent much labor and more anxiety, — have seen her 
flush up, leave the table on some pretended errand, and 
(this is actual truth) brush tears from those bright 
eyes of hers. Another case. An elderly woman of 



THE WRITER FACES HIS OWN MUSIC. 231 

this village died recently, the chief end and aim of 
whose whole married life had been, so people say 
who know, to cook in such a manner as exactly to 
please her husband. She succeeded. That husband 
made tlie remark, in this very house, and within this 
very week, that he hadn't tasted a decent piece of 
custard-pie since his wife died. Among the wealthier 
classes it is just the same. I believe that Mrs. Man- 
chester goes to her dinner-table every day with fear 
and trembling. Perhaps her case is worse than that 
of my cousin, as, with Mrs. Manchester, success or 
failure depends on the uncertain capabilities of Irish 
help. The blame, however, if blame there be, rests 
on Mrs. Manchester ; and I have seen that the sar- 
castic manner in which Mr. Manchester blames, 
sometimes cuts into the quick. These may be excep- 
tional cases : I trust they are. But that this state 
of things does prevail more or less generally, cannot 
be denied. K, then, the low and trivial matter of 
eating be sufficiently high and important to take so 
very prominent a position among our enjo^Tnents, 
and to seriously affect the peace and happiness of 
woman's life, why not harp on it? 

It should be harped on, likewise, because it affects 
the condition of almost ever3'body. Simplify cookery, 
thus reducing the cost of living, and how many long- 



232 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

ing individuals, now forbidden, would thereby be 
enabled to afford themselves the pleasures of culture, 
of travel, of social intercourse, of tasteful dwellings ! 
And it might be added, at the risk of raising a smile, 
how many pairs of waiting lovers, now forbidden, 
would thereby be enabled to marry, and go to — par- 
adise, which is to say housekeeping ! 

Social intercourse, in a special manner, would be 
affected by the change. People "can't have com- 
pany, 'tis such hard work ! " And no wonder ! A 
young woman of this village set before her company, 
the other afternoon, three kinds of cake, two of pie, 
three of preserves, besides Washington-pie, cookies, 
and hot and cold bread. Every woman who sat at 
that tea-table, when her turn of inviting the com- 
pany comes round, will feel obliged to make a 
similar display. When this barbarous practice of 
stuffing one's guests shall have been abolished, a 
social gathering will not necessarily imply hard 
labor and dyspepsia. Perhaps, when that time 
arrives, we shall be sufficiently civilized to demand 
pleasures of a higher sort. True, the entertain- 
ments will then, in one sense, be more costly, as 
culture is harder to come by than cake. The 
profusion of viands now heaped upon the table 
betrays povertj' of the worst sort. Having nothing 



THE WRITER FACES HIS OWN MUSIC. 233 

better to offer, we offer victuals ; and this we do 
with something of that complacent, satisfied air 
with which some more northern tribes present their 
tif^bits of whale and walrus. 

When we have changed all this, it will then be 
given us to know the real pleasure of eating. At 
present our appetites are so vitiated by over-eating, 
that the keen edge of this pleasure is dulled. 
Whoever would enjoy it, sharpened at both edges, 
let him labor hard enough to feel actual hunger, and 
then take — whj-, take any simple thing, a baked po- 
tato, a slice of meat, a piece of bread. The dishes 
that make the work, and cost the money, are usually 
eaten after hunger is satisfied, and do harm, rather 
than good. 

We often hear people remark, "Oh! we don't 
want to be thinldng of what does harm, and what 
does good. The best way is to eat what's on the 
table." I know a mother who gives her only child, a 
little girl three years old, hot biscuits, mince-pie, 
rich cake, and the like, believing, she says, that 
*' a child's stomach should get used to every thing." 
For her part, she believes in living the natural way, 
not in picking and choosing. Why not, on the 
same principk, let the child get used to all kinds of 
reading, and all kinds of companions ? 



234 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

It is curious, the way people assume, that, because 
the present systeru of cooking and serving meals is 
customary, it is, therefore, natural ; as if the courses 
of a dinner, each with its central dish, and that with 
its revolving lesser dishes, were, equally with the solar 
system, an established order of nature. Meal-pro- 
viders have sought out many inventions, and call these 
the "natural way." They give us, at one sitting, fish, 
pork, flour, butter, salt, milk, eggs, raisins, spices, 
corn, potatoes, squash, coffee, sugar, saleratus, 
pickles, onions, lard, pepper, cooked fruits, toma- 
toes, essences, all variously combined, and say, 
*' Here, eat, eat in the natural way." Why natural? 
The men and women it helps to produce are, to some 
extent, its natural consequences ; but are they 
natural men and women? Hear them. " Oh, my 
head ! " " Oh, my back ! " " Oh, my side ! " " Oh, my 
liver ! " "Oh, my stomach ! " " Oh, my nerves ! " On 
every side resounds the mournful chorus. Seldom do 
we hear break in even one jubilant voice, chanting 
in response, "I am in perfect health. I feel no ache, 
no pain." Is this, then, the natural way? But the 
S3'stem speaks for itself, or, rather, the innumerable 
host of invalids speak for it. So does the grand 
army of doctors. So do proprietors of patent med- 
icines, rolling in wealth. Wh}^, people take ill 



THE WRITER FACES HIS OWN MUSIC. 235 

health for granted. "No use telling your aches: 
everj'body has 'em," is a remark often heard. 

Occasionally an individual rebels, and insists on 
eating really simple and natural food. Such indi- 
vidual is straightway called odd. He is jeered at, 
ridiculed, accused of thinking about his stomach, 
and about what merely goes to sustain the bod}^, as 
if such thinking were not worth while. 

Now, these bodies are nearer and dearer to us 
than any other earthly possession. And, what is 
more, they will cling to us. We are joined to them 
for better or worse ; and from this union there is no 
divorce, till death do us part. Why, then, scoff at 
them? Why not, on the contrary, seriously con- 
sider how we may build them up as pure, as strong, 
and as perfect as may be? Not worth while to 
think about one's stomach? Why? The stomach 
is not an obscure party, doing business in a small 
way, and on its own account. It is leading partner 
in an important and influential firm, — " Stomach, 
Brains, & Co." There is nothing vulgar about brains ; 
oh, no ! They have always been respectable. Well, 
in this great firm, each member is liable for all, and 
all for each. K one runs in debt, the others have 
to pay. It is well known that the condition of the 
brain and other organs is affected by the quality of 



236 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S TRUNK. 

the blood, and the quality of the blood, by the 
quality of the food. The change of food into blood 
is a chemical process ; and why is not human chem- 
istry as well worth studjdng as any other kind ? for 
instance, that by which the manufacturer selects the 
best chemicals for his various dj^estuffs, and the gar- 
dener those best adapted to his various soils. The 
time may come when this chemistry of eating shall 
rank with other scientific studies. People shall then 
be allowed to ' ' pick and choose " the diet best cal- 
culated to make healthy nerves, blood, bones, &c. ; 
and they shall not suffer ridicule for so doing. 



New Publications. 



Yensie Walton's Womanhood. By Mrs. S. R. Graliain 
Clark. Bostou: D. Lothrop & Co. Price §1..jO. ISTiue out 
of ten Sunday-school scholars have read Yensie Walton, one 
of the best and most interesting books that ever went into a 
Sunday-school library. The present volume' introduces 
Yensie in a new home and under new conditions. She 
enters the family of a friend as an instructor of the younger 
members, and the narrative of her experiences will especially 
interest those who have to do with the moral and mental 
training of children. The author shows that all children 
are not made after the same pattern, and that one line of 
treatment is not of universal application. In one of her 
pupils, a boy of brilliant mental endowments, whose mind 
has become embittered because of a physical deformity, 
Yensie finds mucli to interest as well as to discourage her. 
She perseveres, howevei-, and by studying liis character 
carefully and working up.)n him from the ri.ulit side, she 
gradually works a change in his disposition and brings his 
better qualities into active exercise. This is scarcely accom- 
plished when a call from Valley Farm reaches lier. Ever 
prompt to do duty's bidding, Yensie quits this happy home 
for the sterner requirements of her luicle's family, where 
she lauored with unflagging interest and determination until 
that izucli-loved relative says his last good-by. It is then 
that the hitherto silenced wooer refuses to be longer quiet 
and our heroine goes out from the old red farm-house to her 
wedded liome, where as a wife and motlier she makes duty 
paramount to pleasure, and every circumstance of life is 
met with that same fortitude characteristic of the Yensie 
Walton you so much admire. Besides the characters with 
which the reader is already familiar through the former 
work, others are introduced which are equally well drawn, 
and which serve to round out the story to completeness. 

The Mother's Record of the Mental, Moral and 
Physica:. Life of Her Child, Boston : D. Lothrop & Co. 
Quarto- $L00. This work is valuable as it is unique. It is 
prepared by a Massachusetts woman, and though originally 
intended for her own benefit, has been published for the 
help of mothers everywhere. It is intended for a yearly 
chronicle of the child's growth and development, mental 
and physical, and will be an important aid to mothers who 
devote themselves to conscientious training of their little 
ones. 



NEW PUBLICATIONS. 

Next Things. By Pansy. A Story for Little Folks. 
Fully illustrated. Boston: D. Lothrop & Co. Price $1.00. 
This is a bright little story with two heroes, and the lesson 
it tries to teach young readers is to do the work that 
lies nearest to them first; in other words, *'What to do 
next. No one can do the second thing; he can do the first." 
Bound up in the same cover is a capital story called 
"Dorrie's Day," in which are related the adventures of a 
little girl who went to sleep in the cars and got carried out 
of her Vvay. The history of what she did, and how she got 
home, will interest the children. 

Mrs. Harry Harper's Awakening. A Missionary 
story by Pansy. Boston: D. Lothrop & Co. Price $1.00. 
This is one of Pansy's " lesson books," in which, under the 
guise of a story, she drives home a truth so thoroughly that 
the dullest and most unimpressible reader cannot help seeing 
and feeling it. Mrs. Harry Hai-per was a young wife in a 
strange city, without acquaintances, and with nothing to do 
during the long hours of the day while her husband was ab- 
sent at his business. One day in walking aimlessly along 
the street she follows a crowd of ladies into what she sup- 
poses is a bazar, but what slie soon discovers to be a mis- 
sionary meeting. Her attention is excited by what she sees 
and hears ; her sympathies and religious feelings are 
awakened, and she enters into praclicai Christian work with 
all her heart and soul. The book is one of serious purpose 
and falling into the hands of people like Mrs. Harper will be 
a means of undoubted good. 

PizARRo; or, The Discovery and Conquest of Peru. Il- 
lustrated. Edited by Fred H. Allen. Boston: D. Lothrop 
& Co. Price $1.00. This is the third volume in Mr. Allen's 
valuable little series, and is a concise and interesting history 
of a country which at this very moment is undergoing a 
conquest as bloody and exhaustive as that wliich occurred 
850 years ago, when the Spanish ancestors of the present 
race of Peruvians carried fire and slaughter into the homes 
of the native inhabitants. The story is told with spirit, 
and with enough detail to enable the reader to get a clear 
and connected idea of the different campaigns of Pizarro in 
South America from the time of his landing on its shoi-es in 
1509 until his assassination by his own countrymen in his 
bouse in Lima in 1541. 



NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



Doctor Dick : A sequel to *' Six Little Beheh. By 
Kiite Taunatt Woods. Boston : D. Lothrop & Co. Price, 
$1.50. Ever since the publication of that chai-ining Moiy, 
Six Little Rebels, tlieie has been a constant deniaiul fr,oin all 
quarters for a continnation of the adventuies of the hriiiht 
young Southerners and their Northern fiiends. The Imnd- 
^olne, vveil-iliustrated volume before us is the result. ""1 lie 
story begins with Dick and Eeginald at Harvard, with Miss 
Lucinda as their housekeeper, and a number of old friends 
as fellow-boarders. Dolly and Cora are noi, forgotten, and 
hold conspicuous places in the narrative, which is enlivened 
by bright dialogue and genuine fun. Wh.it liiey all do in 
their respective places — the boys at college, Cora at Vassar, 
Dolly with her father, Mrs. Miller at Washington, and the 
others at their posts of duty or necessity, is entertainingly 
described. The story of the fall of Kichniond and the assas- 
sination of Lincoln are vividly told. One of the most 
interesting chapters of the book is that which describes the 
visit, after the fall of the Confederacy, of Keginaid's father, 
General Greshara, to Cambridge, and the i-ejoicings which 
followed. The whole book is full of life and incident, and 
will be thoroughly enjoyed by young readers. 

Young Folks' Histoky of Russia. By IS'athan Haskell 
Dole, editor and ti'anslator of "Rambaud's Popular History 
of Russia." Fully illustrated. 12mo, cloth, $1.5U; half 
Russia, $2.0(1. Mr. Dole has for several yeais made a care- 
ful and special study of Russian history, and the volume 
before us bears testimony to the critical thoroughness of 
the knowledge thus gained. Russia has no certain history 
before the ninth century, although there is no lack of 
legend and tradition. Some attention is given to these, but 
the real record of events begins just after the time Vladimir 
became Prince of Kief, about the beginning of the tenth 
century. The contents are divided into two books, the first 
being sub-divided into ''Heroic Russia," "Russia of the 
Princes," "The Enslavement of Russia," and "The Russia 
of Moscow." The second book deals with Russia after its 
establishment as an empire, and its sub-divisions have for 
their special subjects, "Ivan the Tyrant," "The Time of 
the Troubles," "The House of the Romanoffs," and 
"Modern Russia." It would have been in place had ]Mi-. 
Dole given the reader a chapter on modern Russian poliiics, 
a thing which could easily have been done, and which is 
absolutely necessary to eiuii)le the ret-der lo understant! 
current events and prospective movements in the empire. 
The volume is profusely illustrated, and contains two double- 
page colored maps. 



NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



Out AND About. By Kate T;uinatt AYoods. Illustrated. 
Boston : D. Lotlirop & Co. Price $1.50- Every boy and 
girl in tlie country used to deli^lit in the Bodley books, 
and here is a volume which is in all respects their worthy 
successor. It is based upon something, like tlie same plan, 
in that it takes a whole family, instead of a single member 
of it, about the country sight-seeing. We might rather say 
two whole families, for that is just what the author does. 
The Hudsonsand the Marstons are neiglibors in tlie vicinity 
of Boston, and the children are great friends. They all go 
to Cape Cod and Nantucket to spend the summer, and from 
there the Hudsons are called away to San Fiancisco by Col, 
Hudson, who is an army officer, and is stationed there. 
The book describes their stay on the Cape, and their long 
overland journey to the Pacific coast. Its interest is not 
wholly confined to the members of the party, for the author 
takes special pains to give correct and vivid pictures of the 
various places visited. The illustrations are some of the 
best ever put into a children's book, and are many from 
drawings and photographs made on the spot. 

Chronicles of the Stimpcett Family. By Abby 
Morton Diaz. Boston : D. Lothrop & Co. Price $1.25. 
Some one once said, " Give a Frenchman an onion and a 
beef-bone, and he will make a dozen different kinds of 
delicious soup." Give Mrs. Diaz two or three simple inci- 
dents, and she will manufacture half a dozen stories so 
sprightly and jolly, and so full of every day human nature 
withal, that to the young they are a source of perennial 
! ^ delight, while the old people can get as much enjoyment out 
\l) of them as from a volume of Scott or Dickens. This new 
book, which has never seen the light in any newspaper or 
magazine, will be ready in ample time foi- the holidnys, and 
the father who wants to make his little onespei tVctly happy 
at that time will take good care to secure a copy. The 
Stimpcetts have a "Family Story Teller," and the wonder- 
ful, queer, strange and funny stories which this individual 
has treasu)-ed up in liis memory, and retails to the children 
on various ()cca>i<)ns, will be laughed over, and talked over, 
and thought orei", until the avithor is ready with anothei 
volume. 



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